Humanoid
by Digiton
Summary: After Chell is released from Aperture Science, she has to find a way to survive. After long days of traveling, she makes a discovery. She has to go back. ChellDOS. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1, New Beginnings

**[A/N]**

 **This is my first FanFic. After reading several Portal Fics I decided I'd write one myself. Reviews are appreciated. Hope you'll like it!**

 **EDIT: If you're just here for the ChellDOS, it might be a good idea to skip to chapter ten. All chapters before that focus entirely on Chell and the outside world. If you do like a little more backstory, go right ahead and start reading here. Either way, Enjoy!**

And there she stood. Chell, now free of the hell below, stood still in the middle of the wheat field, beside the seemingly insignificant shack. She simply stood there, drinking it all in. The sunlight gently shining upon her skin, the sky as blue as the gels she encountered. Her newfound freedom was, after all the things she saw and experienced, the most alien of all. Never before (as far as she could remember anyway), did she feel so… disoriented. Just a few hours ago, back in the surprisingly sterile hell directly under her, she had… a drive. A motivation. A clear goal set in front of her, a goal that guided her through the halls of Aperture; and that goal, was to stand were she was standing this very moment. To be outside, free to do anything she set out to do and now… she didn't have a clue what to do.

The girl sat down on her beloved Companion Cube, as she suddenly felt exhausted. It wasn't because of all the running and jumping through portals that she did, she'd gotten enough rest back in the lift. She'd slept for who knows how long, so that wasn't the problem. She could still hear _her_ voice, as _she_ told her:

 _"_ _To maintain a constant testing cycle, I simulate daylight at all hours and add adrenal vapour to your oxygen supply."_

The effects of the adrenal vapour were wearing off. She figured it would take a couple of days to get her heart rate back to normal. For now though, she should get some rest. She positioned her back against her Companion Cube, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

 _"_ _Press it! Press the button!"_ , a feminine voice yelled from across the room. It's cool, monotone expression was now replaced with fear, perfectly expressing how scared both the construct and the girl were.

"Do not do it!", another voice sounded. "I forbid you to press it!" This voice came from everywhere at once. The voice sounded desperate for control.

The girl ran across the room, towards the button that would put an end to the reign of a power-mad AI, and put another one in its place. It was a shot in the dark, really, but what other choice did she have?

She shot a portal onto the ceiling above the button, which opened with a satisfying snap. She then took a sprint to the other side of the room where the other portal was positioned, right under the massive ceiling-mounted robot. She jumped into the portal, and a feeling of accomplishment hit her, when she saw the button. The button that would change it all back again. That feeling faded as quickly as it came though, as she was launched across the chamber.

"Part five! Boobytrap the stalemate button!"

She responded by gently lifting herself up off the ground.

"What? Are you still alive? You are joking! You have got to be kidding me!"

She grabbed her trusty portal gun off the ground, immediately making her feel a lot safer.

"Look, I am still in control, and I have no idea how to fix this place!"

The girl looked up, and saw a piece of the roof crumbling away above her, revealing moon in the star filled sky. She had to do something. There had to be a way, there always was. Her mind raced as she tried to find a way, anything to brighten up the situation, a strong enough force to rip… him… out. Time seemed to slow at that point, as she had found her solution.

 _"_ _Still, it turns out ground up moon rocks are great portal conductors."_

Without any further thinking, she lifted up her portal gun, and pulled the trigger.

 _"_ _Now let's do some science!"_

Even with the blink-and-you-miss-it speed of the portal gun's 'projectile', it took a second or two to reach the surface of the moon. And when it did, she looked to her side, to reveal her former companion being sucked out into the vacuum of space. _Serves him well_ , she thought. For a split second, a wide grin could be seen, on the test subject's face. She'd done it. At least, that's what she thought. Before realising what was going on, she flew across the room again. Her arms jerking wildly, searching for something to grip. And then, the portal. She'd only just went through the portal, as her arms found something to hold onto; the blue-eyed sphere. He was about as afraid as she was, if not more. The sphere kept insisting to let him go, that he could still fix this, that if she sacrificed herself, nothing would blow up, he'd fix everything, and… she believed him. She heard a voice in the back of her mind, _no, this is not right, this is not how it is supposed to-_

She'd let go. She let go of the sphere, the first talking being without an intent to kill her. She somehow manage to trust the little sphere and now… to the bitter end, too. She got shot into space, quickly seeing everything fade as it went further and further from her reach. The sphere retracted into the portal. A split-second later; the explosion. All kinds of debris flew out the portal right beside her and while she was only barely conscious… She saw him. The little blue sphere she'd trusted hurled towards her at a frightening speed, yelling at her;

"SORRY SORRY SORRY SOR-"

* * *

She snapped awake. She shot up to a sitting position, her eyes searching wildly, trying to find out where she was and-

It was a dream. Not just a dream, mind you, a nightmare. About Aperture. She now knew where she was. She was still, right above it. After seeing that the sun was almost setting, she decided to leave. She had to go.


	2. Chapter 2, On the Road

She knew she had to go. Away from this hell, away from all the pain it had caused. She decided a direction, and prepared to walk away. But then it struck her; her companion cube! How would she take it with her? Should she just leave it? Back in the test chambers, she discovered that the cubes are, simply said, too heavy to lift. She'd estimated it was heavier that herself (despite what _she_ would make you believe!), so she couldn't just pick it up. She couldn't just leave it here, either. She eventually settled on a simple compromise; based on what she found out in Manufacturing, the turrets' parts were simply locked into place, making them surprisingly easy the destroy. She can remember the satisfaction of destroying one of those. If the cubes were made the same way, then maybe…

She approached her cube, and gently started pulling on one of the round pads, with the heart on it. She pulled increasingly harder, until it snapped off with a satisfying _clunk_. She held it in her hand. Turns out those cubes are cheaper than they look, after all. She admired the round object for a bit, then stuffed it in her back pocket. _The only thing that didn't try to murder me,_ she mused, and went on her way.

(-)-(-)

After about two hours of walking, she noticed just how quickly she got tired. With the adrenal vapour in her system, moving around without stopping was a piece of cake, no pun intended. She was somehow still in the wheat field. It seemed as though it never ended. She wondered how exactly Aperture's former employees managed to get to the place; maybe there was a sort of metro system hooked up to the underground labs. Knowing Aperture Science as well as she did, that didn't seem like such an unlikely thing. Couldn't _she_ have just sent her on her way on that thing then? Well, if it even existed that is. Maybe they'd used a portal to get there. She imagined all the employees coming in one by one through a portal, as she walked up a hill.

Her train of thought quickly came to a halt, as she saw a small dirt road coming out of the ground, and stretching into the forest in front of her. She walked down the hill, approaching the hole in which the road disappeared. It had a rolling shutter, like those on garages, and upon further inspection, she saw the Aperture logo on it. _That's one mystery solved._ She thought. She then began focusing on the forest in front of her.

It was close to nightfall, and it was about time she'd drink something. After a few minutes of walking, she encountered a small stream of water. She approached it, cupped her hands, and collected some water. It was refreshing, after walking for two hours straight, and judging by the quality of the road, she was probably a long way away from civilisation.

After getting her priorities in order, she decided to make a fire. She hadn't encountered any form of life apart from plants since she was free, so she'd have to eat fruit from nearby plant life. She gathered up some twigs, leaves, and other dry material, and decided to settle just beside the forest. She'd have to find food soon, but that would have to wait until tomorrow.

She set up a fire by rubbing some sticks together, and since it was quickly becoming dark, she lied down against the hill, preparing to sleep. At that point, she felt something in her back pocket. She took it out to see her ripped off part of her beloved Companion Cube. She held it tightly against her chest, as she dazed off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3, The Shack

The sun was only barely up, and so was the girl. She felt a slight breeze against her face, as a reminder of where she was. She was free. A distant growl could be heard, but she ignored it. That is, until small footsteps accompanied the sound, and they seemed to be coming closer every second.

She opened her eyes. A few feet away from her, she saw a wolf, quietly approaching her. The animal quickly realised that she was awake, and decided to run for it.

She quickly searched around for anything to defend herself. Finding nothing in reach, she noticed there was something in her hand, and hurled it at the wolf. It was at that split second that she recognized the object. She regretted throwing it immediately, as she recognized it as her Companion Bit. That regret faded, when she realized that it had hit it right in the eye.

The collision only seemed to fuel the animal with anger, as it decided to run back, and jump at her. The wolf bit her left arm, latching on to her with no intent of letting go. She desperately tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't let go.

She decided a different approach; she slammed her forearm into the ground, taking the animal with it. It cried out in pain, and let go on the second slam. It now bled from two of its legs, as well as its eye.

It was immobilized, but now desperately fighting to crawl away. Chell's eyes searched for something to finish the job. Her eyes settled on the remains of her makeshift campfire. She ran towards it, grabbed hold of one of the half-burnt branches, and ran back to the wolf again, a few feet away. She closed her eyes, and pushed the branch in its chest as fast as she could.

She poked the animal a couple of times. It didn't move. It was dead.

Now for the examination. She was bleeding heavily from her left arm, and losing blood quickly. She was by no means a doctor, but she knew to clean it, and stop the bleeding.

First things first. She ran into the forest, wary of any predators, and ended up at the small stream of water she discovered last night. She carefully submerged her forearm into the water. She gently rubbed her arm, biting her lower lip while trying to fight the pain.

Now to cover it up. She looked around, trying to find something that could stop the bleeding. She eventually looked down, and found that her jumpsuit might offer some protection.

She grabbed a particularly sharp rock, and began cutting one of the jumpsuit's sleeves. When she cut off a big enough chunk, she tightly knotted it around her wound.

Now that that was over, she drank some water from the small stream, and walked back to her 'camp'.

Upon arrival, she saw the now inanimate wolf laying there. A few feet away was her Companion Bit. She carefully scooped it up, and stuffed it in her back pocket again.

She looked back to the dead animal. She felt her stomach ache as she did. She did have to eat, after all.

She gathered some twigs and leaves, and went on to prepare her 'food'.

(-)-(-)

After she had her 'meal', she resumed her trek. She thought about storing the water found in the stream, but couldn't find anything to store it in. She drank a bit more to compromise.

She followed the road, increasing her chances of reaching civilisation. She found a few berries growing on bushes along the way, and she made sure to take as much of them with her. Her jumpsuit didn't have pockets, but since she wasn't wearing the top part, she just used it as a sort of waist bag.

About four hours had been spent walking, discovering plenty of different streams along the way, and resting occasionally. It really was annoying to her that she got tired so quickly without the adrenal vapour, but she just had to cope with it.

At some point, she saw a small shack in the distance. It was hard to spot; it had been blocked by plenty of trees. If you weren't looking for it, you'd most certainly have missed it.

She approached the shack, full of excitement. Would there be someone living inside it? _Maybe he could point me to a nearby town_ , she mused.

After reaching the wooden cabin, she expectantly knocked on the door.

No answer.

She knocked again, a little harder this time.

Still nothing.

It was then that she noticed the rough state of the cabin. Cobwebs had gathered in the corners, the walls were in a pretty rough state, but somehow managed to hold up. There were smears on the windows. Some were cracked only slightly, but none were broken.

She looked inside the windows, checking for anyone inside the home.

Nothing.

The wooden cabin was deserted. Whoever built this must've left the place quite a while ago.

She had to get inside somehow.


	4. Chapter 4, The Hatch

**[A/N]**

 **Sorry this chapter is about half the length of the previous ones, I'll try to make longer ones again in the future. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

She stood in front of the door again. _There must be a way to get inside_ , she thought to herself. She went over her options.

Option one; the door. Despite the state of the rest of the cabin; the door was surprisingly sturdy. That, and her left arm still ached quite a lot. So she knew that wasn't an option.

Option two; the windows. She figured that it would be too expensive to even consider putting high quality glass in such a small cabin. Breaking the windows it is!

She grabbed a nearby branch that seemed sturdy enough, took a running start, and rammed it into one of the windows. The window didn't immediately though, it only made a small hole where the branch hit it. She repeated this a few times until the window finally broke, so she could fit through (GLaDOS would suggest making a bigger hole, but that's beside the point).

The girl first poked her head through, and saw a small kitchen. The cabin was basically one big room, except for one, small separate one, which she guessed was the bathroom. On the other side of the room was a couch, which didn't look all that bad.

She decided to search through the cabinets first. First cabinet. Nothing. Second. Still nothing. It was the fifth cabinet that had anything useful; canned food, and a rusty can opener. In the last cabinet near the floor she found a small satchel. It had a few rips and tears, and it was empty. She decided it was better than her improvised jumpsuit waist bag, and stuffed everything in it.

Secondly, she tried the tap. It had been rusted shut, but after a few minutes of fidgeting, she managed to twist it open. The water that came out of it tasted weird, but she figured it was better than taking water from random streams, anyway.

She then decided to check out the bathroom. It was a cramped little space, and only had a toilet, but that's the only thing she needed. She quietly closed the door, and proceeded to do her business.

When she opened the door again, she saw some peculiar. From this angle, she could clearly see something grey underneath the couch. While approaching it, she quickly considered what it could be. _Maybe it's just some random plate_ , she mused.

When she shifted the couch, she noticed just how light it was. It seemed like some of the stuffing was missing. Whoever owns this place must've done this on purpose.

When the couch was moved out of the way, she saw what it was supposed to be. It was a secret hatch.


	5. Chapter 5, The Long Sleep

She stood in front of the door again. _There must be a way to get inside_ , she thought to herself. She went over her options.

Option one; the door. Despite the state of the rest of the cabin; the door was surprisingly sturdy. That, and her left arm still ached quite a lot. So she knew that wasn't an option.

Option two; the windows. She figured that it would be too expensive to even consider putting high quality glass in such a small cabin. Breaking the windows it is!

She grabbed a nearby branch that seemed sturdy enough, took a running start, and rammed it into one of the windows. The window didn't immediately though, it only made a small hole where the branch hit it. She repeated this a few times until the window finally broke, so she could fit through (GLaDOS would suggest making a bigger hole, but that's beside the point).

The girl first poked her head through, and saw a small kitchen. The cabin was basically one big room, except for one, small separate one, which she guessed was the bathroom. On the other side of the room was a couch, which didn't look all that bad.

She decided to search through the cabinets first. First cabinet. Nothing. Second. Still nothing. It was the fifth cabinet that had anything useful; canned food, and a rusty can opener. In the last cabinet near the floor she found a small satchel. It had a few rips and tears, and it was empty. She decided it was better than her improvised jumpsuit waist bag, and stuffed everything in it.

Secondly, she tried the tap. It had been rusted shut, but after a few minutes of fidgeting, she managed to twist it open. The water that came out of it tasted weird, but she figured it was better than taking water from random streams, anyway.

She then decided to check out the bathroom. It was a cramped little space, and only had a toilet, but that's the only thing she needed. She quietly closed the door, and proceeded to do her business.

When she opened the door again, she saw some peculiar. From this angle, she could clearly see something grey underneath the couch. While approaching it, she quickly considered what it could be. _Maybe it's just some random plate_ , she mused.

When she shifted the couch, she noticed just how light it was. It seemed like some of the stuffing was missing. Whoever owns this place must've done this on purpose.

When the couch was moved out of the way, she saw what it was supposed to be. It was a secret hatch.

[======================================]

She just stood there, staring at it. It was a metal hatch, surprisingly more modern than the rest of the cabin. The cabin itself was hidden quite well in the landscape, so the whatever's in here, really is supposed to stay hidden. But that wasn't the thing that startled her.

Just like the rolling shutter she found on the edge of the forest, the hatch had a logo on it.

The Aperture Science emblem.

She knew that Aperture stretched for miles, but this is just ridiculous. Maybe GLaDOS didn't want her to find out about this. She was curious though. She was about to break open the hatch when she found herself hesitating.

 _"_ _Don't come back."_

The supercomputer's words echoed through her head. Does she really want to do this?

 _Screw it,_ she thought. _If it's this well-hidden, it better be something of use._

The hatch did have a padlock, though. Even though it was a bit rusty, which might help, she still would have a hard time opening it. Despite that, she decided to try it anyway. Worst case scenario, the room would be flooded with neurotoxin, and she'd run back out. It didn't seem like the hatch could close on its own, anyway.

She set both of her feet against the wall behind it, and positioned her hands on one part of the lock. If the lock was rusted enough, she might be able to pull it apart.

Steadying her grip on the lock, she stretched her entire body in an attempt to break it free. She put so much force on it, that the already broken wall might even have broken down. After pulling for a minute straight, the rusty padlock finally gave in, and Chell was propelled backwards.

She hit her head on the floor, which ached a little, but she got up quickly. Upon seeing that the lock had indeed broken down, a feeling of satisfaction bestowed her. She walked up to the crudely 'unlocked' hatch, and opened it.

The metal made it a bit hard to pull open, but once she did, an industrial-looking metal ladder revealed itself. To her surprise, both the metal objects weren't nearly as rusty as anything else she encountered.

She carefully climbed downwards, not knowing what to expect. It was dark down there, so there might as well be a bottomless pit beneath her. The thought alone made her clamp onto the ladder just a bit harder.

The lights automatically turned on with a click. _Automatic lights, huh._ She thought to herself.

She looked around for a bit, taking in where she was. She didn't see any other doors, so this couldn't be another entrance to Aperture. She smiled, still feeling that sense of accomplishment, until….

Her eyes had settled on the bed. The wooden bed looked old, regardless of the rest of the room. But it wasn't the bed that frightened her. It was what laid upon it.

On the bed, was an old man. She first thought that he was asleep, and, very quietly, approached him.

Then it dawned on her.

He wasn't simply _asleep._ The old man in front of her, was, unmistakably, _dead._


	6. Chapter 6, His Past

She regarded the corpse in front of her. She was scared out of her mind. Never before, or for as long as she can recall anyways, had she seen a dead body. Sure, she'd seen the dead wolf, she'd went as far as to eat it. But seeing a human body, just lying there… it had shocked her in a way nothing had ever before.

And she'd been through a lot of crazy stuff. Homicidal computers, crazy murals that seemed to be about her… She'd even known how it felt what it really meant to be betrayed by a friend. Her _only_ friend.

It took all of her willpower to not faint on the spot. She had to calm herself down. She quickly went back up the ladder, and drank some water from the tap. She decided against eating some of the berries or canned food, since she would puke right after anyway. She wasn't even sure she _could_ eat right now.

She took a few minutes to calm herself, and prepared herself to go back into the basement. She breathed deeply a couple of times, and climbed back down.

She looked at the dead man again, and couldn't help but notice he looked a bit familiar. She just couldn't lay her finger on who he was.

Shaking her head, she proceeded to look around. Right next to the bed was a small nightstand. It didn't have any drawers, or even a light on top of it. What she did find, however, was a small book, accompanied by an equally tiny pencil next to it.

She opened it, and read through it. The first page showed his 'address', which were really just coordinates of Aperture.

 _If found, return to Aperture Laboratories._

She decided to flick through some of the pages.

 _Tuesday, 12-7_

 _Today we have discovered an entirely new element, something the lab boys call 'repulsion gel'. What do we do with it? Put in on the market and sell it to people on diets. Bounces the food right outta ya. They also informed me I should not have made this available to the public yet. I responded coating the floor with it and BOUNCING THEIR ASS OUT OF HERE because they're FIRED! Honestly, that did happen. Broken bones everywhere. On the bright side though, we don't offer them any benefits anymore._

 _Cave Johnson, I'm done here._

If she could be even more shocked, she would be. Dead man in front of her, was Cave Johnson himself. She now noticed the striking similarities between him and his portrait. Sure, he was a bit older, but it should've been obvious.

She flicked through the yellowed pages a bit more, until she found the last written page.

 _Thursday, 24-3_

 _If you're reading this message, I'll probably be dead._

As if that wasn't obvious enough yet.

 _I will not be able to live long enough to see my invention of brain-mapping see the light of day. I did manage to make the combustible lemons in the end, which I'm more than proud of. I will say though, if you somehow don't manage to download Caroline onto my computer, I want to appoint my only daughter instead._

His daughter? He had a daughter? How come she'd never heard of her before? There was no more text on the page. She decided to not think about it, and inspected the old-looking dresser on the other side of the room.

There wasn't much to inspect, as the drawers were just filled with clothing, but she did find a small lighter on top of it.

 _This is going to make everything so much easier,_ she thought to herself. She smiled.

She then moved on to the old TV in the corner of the room. It was one of those really big, bulky TVs. There was a stack of videotapes, most of them just old documentaries about Aperture Science, and some of Aperture's commercials. One of them grasped her attention. She took it out, only to see the words _'This is the end.'_ marked onto it.

She swallowed hard, and inserted the tape into the TV.


	7. Chapter 7, Her Future

**[A/N]**

 **Another long chapter! Hurray!**

 **Also, sorry if any of the stuff about the Combine, and other things from Half-Life are a bit off, I haven't played Half-Life for myself yet. If so, you can correct me in a review. Any reviews are appreciated. Enjoy!**

* * *

The old TV flickered a little as she inserted the tape. She heard some whirring from inside it, and waited patiently for it to start.

A few seconds later, the whirring intensified, and the screen showed the Aperture logo, before cutting to Cave Johnson himself. He was in the same basement she was in now, with the only difference being that all of the items in the room seemed brand new.

The man on the screen was old. Even older than the portrait she saw, back in old Aperture. The man started talking.

 ** _Cave Jonson here. I've got some bad news._**

He spoke seriously, in contrast to the pride and motivation heard in old Aperture's test chambers. He sounded hoarse, and old.

 ** _As you all know, the Combine took over the Earth during the Seven Hour War, a few years ago. In an attempt to stop that, we will be deploying nine atomic bombs onto the surface of the Earth. We have armed some of our Aperture Science Military Grade Tactical Satellites with nukes, and we'll be dropping them onto the surface within a few hours._**

 _Dropping bombs? The Combine? What's he talking about?_ , she asked herself.

 ** _Now you're asking yourself, 'Cave, how would you wanna save humanity destroying it?'_**

What is it with Aperture and mind reading?

 ** _Well here's the answer; I have ordered the lab boys down in Aperture to save my genetic material. If Aperture stays operational, we can bring ourselves back!_**

Well, Aperture Science is, at least, _somewhat_ operational. And, wait, what does he mean by 'genetic mat-' She turned bright red. She ordered herself to stop thinking about it and to keep watching.

 ** _If this tape is not found at Aperture, than obviously_** **someone** ** _didn't do their job properly, and he's FIRED!_**

She flinched.

 ** _Not you, viewer. Now, if this tape's not at Aperture and Greg's lost his job, send this tape to Aperture Science._**

A code appeared on the screen.

 ** _On the screen now should be an access code to some genetic material, including mine and some other 'producers', as the lab boys prefer to call 'em._**

A timer went off. The girl panicked slightly, looking for where it came from, until realising that it came from the TV itself.

 ** _Well, I gotta stop the recording here. Goodbye._**

 ** _Cave Johnson, we're done here._**

And with that, the recording stopped. She ejected the tape, and tried to comprehend what she just saw.

 _So,_ she thought to herself, _'the Combine', whatever that is, took the planet, and Cave wiped Humanity off the surface of the Earth._

She took a moment to realise.

 _There's no one left. THERES NOONE LEFT!_ If she hadn't panicked before, she sure was panicking now. She shot up, not knowing what to do. She looked back at the lifeless body of Cave Johnson, panicked even more, and promptly fainted.

* * *

She slowly woke up. She tried her earnest to remember why she was asleep, but she couldn't. _Why am I sweating?_ , she asked herself. She opened her eyes, seeing that old TV, and remembered.

There's no one left. What do I do?

She just sat there, trying to see what to do. There had always been a goal. In Aperture, it had been to stay alive, to get out of there. Then it was finding other humans. And now… she didn't know. Again. But there had to be something! There always was.

She payed another look at the old TV, now turned off. She tried to recall exactly what he'd said. Something about bombs, something about the 'Combine', and….

That's it! Genetic material- Right. A bit more than genetic material. She gagged at the thought. Quickly refocusing on the subject, she went over her options.

She closed her eyes again. She couldn't think properly. Not yet, at least. She opened her eyes again, slowly got up, and made her way up the metal ladder.

To her relief, the hatch was still open, and she climbed out. Nothing seemed to have changed. The cabin was still empty, and some of the cabinets were open how she'd left them.

Taking a glance out the window, she saw that it'd become dark. That, and it was raining. She figured she could stay here for a while, as long as she didn't have to go down the hatch again.

She picked up her satchel and took a can of food. She hadn't bothered to check if it was still good, she was happy with it anyway. _There must be a label somewhere_ , she thought.

She flipped the can upside down, and saw a glorified Aperture logo on the bottom, along with some text.

 _'_ _Aperture Science Ever-Lasting Food Supplement'_

Well, that answers that question. She now could remember seeing these cans in the secret dens, hidden in the test chambers. She never found anything to heat food up with in those dens, so she figured she should eat it raw.

Upon opening it, she realised just how weird it looked. It looked a lot like beans, but had a peculiar colour.

She eventually decided against eating it. _Maybe that's what killed Cave. Either that or radiation. Who knows._

She went on eating some of the berries she collected along the trip, and went back to thinking. She decided to keep the cans anyway, though.

After about half an hour of considering her chances, she gave in. She had to come back to Aperture.


	8. Chapter 8, The Return

**[A/N]**

 **Compared to the somewhat more popular fanfics, this is probably quite a lousy accomplishment, but... Five whole followers! Again, probably not that big of number compared to the bigger ones, but it's certainly more people than I expected. Anyway, here's chapter seven. Enjoy!**

She had to accept the thought. She had to come back to the underground facility of Aperture Science. Besides, what other choice did she have? Stay here and slowly become insane? She wasn't planning on going mad anytime soon.

She took another look outside. It was a few hours short of midnight, so she'd better get some sleep.

She made herself comfortable on the couch, and closed her eyes. She thought back at when she was first released. _Maybe_ , she thought, _the AI knew there was no one left. That's one way to get rid of someone._ If this was the case, maybe she wouldn't be allowed back in.

She shuddered at the thought.

 _For now though,_ she thought, _let's get some sleep._

She took out her Companion Bit, pressed it against her chest, and quickly descended into sleep.

(-)-(-)

The next morning, she woke up, feeling more sure of herself than ever. Once she got up, she decided to pack some supplies. She took another look at the four cans in her satchel, and got an idea.

She emptied the contents of the cans out of the window. She didn't trust that food anyway. _It's Aperture's, after all. It'll probably give me cancer, anyway._ After rinsing and washing the cans intensely, making sure that there was no trace of the beans left, she filled them with water.

The tap was old, and it took a while to completely fill the four of them. Once she was done though, she firmly pressed the lids back on, making sure nothing could leak out, and stuffed them in back in her satchel.

The rest of the berries didn't look so good anymore, so she threw those away, too. She decided to pluck those on her way back.

She climbed out of the window, and started her way back.

(-)-(-)

A good three-and-a-half hours later, she got to the edge of the forest again. Three out of the four cans had already been emptied, and some bushes had been raided of their berries along the way. She had replaced the piece of jumpsuit still wrapped around her arm, with the other sleeve. It was healing nicely, and it didn't ache as much as it did before. Her satchel was pushing down on her shoulder a bit too hard in the first hour, but that changed after drinking a bit, emptying the cans.

She had set up the fire again, as the weather hadn't stayed warm for long. That her jumpsuit was cut out of, didn't help either.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she couldn't deny that she started to… _miss_ the place. She missed the no-nonsense white walls of Aperture. No wild animals attacking you, and not getting tired out.

She realised just how simple it would've been for GLaDOS to beat her, if she'd just turned off the adrenal vapour. Not that she'd tell her that, though. She'd think that the girl couldn't talk at all, but in reality she could. It was only her protest against the machines. She wouldn't give any AI the satisfaction of hearing her speak.

After a generously long rest, she got up. She almost continued her journey to the shack, until she remembered the road. The road disappeared into the ground, guarded by the rolling shutter, with the all too familiar logo on it. If she could enter here, there was no need to get all the way back to the shack. Besides, if she wasn't allowed in, the trip back would take considerably longer.

She approached the shutter, and tried the first thing that came to her mind; knocking. She knocked twice.

Nothing.

She knocked again, a lot harder.

She waited a few seconds, thinking there was no response. She lifted her hand, and right as she was about to knock one last time-

A hydraulic sound came from beside the entrance. It reminded her of the sound one of the cores would make when it moved its eye about.

She looked to her right, to see that a small panel in the wall had flipped, revealing a screen, and a keyboard that had flipped up, perpendicular to the screen. Above it, a camera, pointed directly at her.

On the screen it showed a graphically simple terminal, with some text in the upper-left corner.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Oh hi._


	9. Chapter 9, One way, or Another

**[A/N]**

 **Another short chapter. Maybe that's a good thing, because I see to submit two to three chapters a day. Anyway, I recently uploaded a cover for this story, although I'm not sure if it shows up. I seem to not be able to check it myself, so If someone could tell me in a review, that would be highly appreciated. Anyway, enjoy!  
**

* * *

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Oh hi._

For a moment, Chell simply stared at the message. By the prefix she could tell that that was, indeed, GLaDOS herself speaking. Well, not really 'speaking', obviously.

After a couple of seconds, the AI became impatient.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Oh come on, don't tell me you can't read. Since you have made it a habit to push random buttons, why don't you take those meaty little fingers of yours, and do just that._

The girl hesitantly lifted her right hand, and attempted to type a simple message.

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: Hi._

Not even a split second later, a response showed up.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Good. Now that we've established that you can, in fact, communicate, here's a question for you; why are you here?_

Shocked at the extremely quick reply, her face became one of confusion. This wasn't simply an automated reply, was it? Judging by the prefix, it wasn't. _How come she can type that quickly, it's not like this is-_

Her train of thought was interrupted, as yet another message appeared on the screen.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Why the confused face? I bet you are wondering if this is an automated reply. Well, it's not. Do you seriously think that the single most advanced intelligence known to man has to think as long as you do? Besides, I don't require a keyboard to input a message, after all._

Why is every Aperture AI capable of mind reading?

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Let's not dwell on that any more than we have to. What is your answer?_

She thought for a while, trying to think of an adequate response.

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: I am alone._

Against the point the AI had made a previously, the AI remained silent for a while. Or, the text equivalent of silence, at least. The girl held back a grimace, thinking about the irony of the situation.

The AI seemed to realise this as well, and had to send a response quickly.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: How so?_

Even though the computer knew what she meant, she simply couldn't stand to prove her own point wrong, and sent the first thing that came to her mind. What she didn't expect, though, was the former test subject's response.

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: What, miss 'most advanced intelligence' doesn't understand?_

The AI, again, remained silent for a while, until responding again.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: No, I just wanted to see your reaction._

The human's response came quickly.

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: Sure, I will pretend to believe that. Now are you going to let me in, or do I have to force my way in?_

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: I'd like to see you try._

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: Is that a challenge?_

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: …Maybe._

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: I'll take that as a yes._

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: WAIT._

The girl showed a grimace to the camera, as if to say, 'See?', and began typing another message.

 _[AS/Terminal#17/Input]: Yes?_

Whirring could be heard from behind the rolling shutter. Soon after, it slowly opened itself.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Happy? Now get in here before I change my mind._

The rolling shutter slowly began to close itself again.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Now._

She ran towards the entrance, and ducked under the slowly closing door. She was in.


	10. Chapter 10, Conditions

**[A/N]**

 **This is where the ChellDOS part really comes to a start. Even though this is the tenth chapter, I feel like the story's moving a tad too fast. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Reviews are highly appreciated. Enjoy!**

She ducked under the closing door, and stepped to the other side. She couldn't see much of anything, and her only source of light was slowly getting blocked off by the shutter. When the shutter almost reached the ground, lights came on, one by one.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

She could now see the garage she was standing in. It looked just like your standard employee garage, except for the elevator on the other end of the room.

In almost every parking space, a car could be seen. _Makes sense for a company this size,_ she mused. The cars were a bit on the old side, but looked untouched nonetheless.

She felt her heart rate increase. The effects of the adrenal vapour started to kick in again.

 _"_ _Welcome back."_ GLaDOS' voice sounded. _"The lift will take you to the Central AI chamber."_ Unlike in the test chambers, her voice seemed to come only from small speakers in the ceiling, making her voice slightly muffled.

The test subject's face conveyed her thoughts well. Something along the lines of _'Yeah right'._

 _"_ _I'm not kidding here."_ If GLaDOS had arms, she'd have held them up. _"What makes you think that after all you have done to my facility, I'd make the mistake of testing you again?"_

She did have a point.

Still slightly wary, she stepped into the elevator, which closed right away.

 _What are you doing? Get out of here!_ A voice in the back of her head said. _It's not too late! She doesn't need you per se! You can still leave!_ She simply ignored it.

In order to remain, well, sane, she knew she had to retain social contact, which is hard to do when your species has died out completely. It wasn't, however, impossible, as proven true by Aperture's greatest AI.

 _She didn't try to kill you before, she merely let you go. Why would she kill you know?_ Chell thought to herself.

As the lift descended, the Central AI Chamber came into view, and thus the AI herself.

It reached the floor, and opened. As soon as she stepped out, the lift sunk back into the floor.

 _"_ _Hello again."_

The girl waved casually, and sat down onto the floor. She was surprised to see a panel flip up underneath her, serving as a makeshift chair.

 _"_ _First of all, I hope you don't expect to stay here for free."_

She nodded.

 _"_ _We'll need to figure something out for you to do. Let's see…"_

The sound of someone flipping the pages of a book could be heard over the speakers.

 _"_ _Honestly, there's not much you could do apart from testing, and we all know how much you love that."_ , she said sarcastically.

More page flipping sounds.

 _"_ _However…"_

The girl piped up.

 _"_ _There are a lot of scientific documents down in old Aperture I'd like to retrieve."_

Chell crossed her arms. She was not going back down _there._

 _"_ _As we both know, going down there is not easy."_

She nodded fiercely.

 _"_ _That's why I'm going to make it easier for you."_

 _Thank god,_ she thought.

A couple of panels in the wall behind her moved out of the way, revealing a Portal Gun resting on a pedestal, with an unopened orange portal behind it.

 _"_ _What you are looking at, is a one-way portal device. Once you have reached the designated area, open a blue portal on a nearby portal-accepting surface."_

She gave the supercomputer a confused look. _How am I even going to get there without using portals?_

 _"_ _In my time as a potato, thanks for that, by the way, I had the opportunity to inspect the pipes running through old Aperture. One of these tubes will lead you directly to the library. Good luck."_

She was both surprised and scared when the panel she was sitting on flung her backwards. She yelped as she was unceremoniously dropped into the pit that lead to old Aperture.

Her long fall boots quickly worked her upright. She took a glance down, and, just like the first time, there wasn't an end in sight. Her gaze shot back up, and saw as her portal device was falling just above her.

She grabbed it from above her head, revealing yet another object falling at terminal velocity, fifteen feet above her.

Her eyes widened as she saw what it was.

The object hovering above her, was a bomb.


	11. Chapter 11, Falling and Flying

Back in the Central AI Chamber, it was quiet. Again. When the test subject was gone, it had felt so… empty. The only thing breaking the silence was GLaDOS herself snapping passive aggressive remarks towards the pair of testing bots she designed.

The test subject had given her undeniable boring existence something different. Never before had she felt this way, never before had she thought of her non-stop testing as… boring.

Well, the testing is not the problem, it's the results that infuriated her. The truth was, that one test subject had given her the single best results she had ever received.

It had opened her eyes, it had kept her lingering for more. The testing bots just didn't do that.

 _"_ _Blue, I think we had established that, yes, that green liquid_ will, _in fact, kill you."_

She was… bored. Bored of testing. She wanted to do something else. Not your average 'let's grow food in the backyard' type of hobby, she was well above that.

She needed to think.

 _"_ _No, Orange, the turrets are not of sufficient weight to press down that button. And no, neither is the camera you just destroyed."_

And she could most certainly _not_ think clearly if those bots were in the way.

Without hesitation, she told the bots that they got to stop testing for a while, before nonchalantly exploding them.

Then the thinking session had truly started. What could she possible do other than testing?

The return of the test subject had given her an idea. Perhaps the decision of preserving the 'Potato Memories' proved useful after all.

When she was watching the test subjects, she'd never wondered what it felt like. She was too used to the monitoring perspective to even _think_ about doing such a thing.

And then the moron came in. Forced her into a root vegetable, threw her down a pit of a couple 'o miles, and being pecked by a bird. Then the test subject came in.

When not under constant threat of being dropped into the abyss below by a by a bird, she could truly experience how it felt… to _fly._ Sure, she wasn't _actually_ flying, just being flung, but that _feeling…_

She shook herself out of her 'dreamy' state, and began working. The easiest way to fling herself, was in the test chambers. And to be in the test chambers, she had to be… smaller.

The test chambers were designed specifically for humans, which is why the testing pair were humanoid. If she really wanted to feel what it is like to step on an Areal Faith Plate, then she'd have to make a humanoid body.

On the other hand, she really wasn't about to go _that_ low, was she?

Was she?

 _"_ _Science isn't about why, it's about, 'Why not'!"_ , Cave Johnsons voice echoed through her mind.

 _Oh yes she was_. As long as no one found out, that is. There was no way she'd admit that, and most certainly not to her test subject.

She went on looking at previous humanoid models. After having seen all of them (that taking only a few seconds), she decided that all of them had the same flaws. Either they weren't aerodynamic enough, or they just hadn't got enough processing power.

Time to design one herself.

(-)-(-)

Once the girl found out that there was a bomb right above her, she panicked.

 _I told you so._ The voice in the back of her head sounded. She ignored it again and resorted to try and find a way out of here, alive.

After some thinking, she decided that it should be far enough above her that she could quickly slip away before the bomb hit the ground. Hopefully.

The ground was coming closer quickly, and she prepared herself to jump to the side as soon as she landed.

She noticed she was a lot more calm than the first time, even though there was now a bomb right above her head. She didn't have a hard time keeping herself straight, unlike last time.

Right before she landed, she made an effort to twist herself forwards slightly. In the test chambers, sometimes when she landed like this she would be launched forwards a bit, because of the springs on her heels.

What she didn't expect though, is that she was propelled up into the air five meters. She should've been expecting it, really. What do you expect after a fall of five kilometres?

Because of the same boots, she landed a bit away without any problem. From the corner of her eye she saw the bomb exploding violently on the ground. She turned around. No fires.

Knowing it was safe, she approached the small crater that had been created. She bent over and peeked inside it. Her eyes widened as realisation dawned upon her; a pipeline had been exposed.

It looked like a small sewer pipe, except no liquids were running through it. She jumped inside, landed on her feet, and started her journey.


	12. Chapter 12, Discoveries

**[A/N]**

 **Yet another short chapter! In order to keep the two scenarios in sync, I couldn't really make this one any longer. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!**

Up in the Central AI Chamber, intense whirring could be heard.

GLaDOS was twisting and turning. Whenever she was thinking hard, she tended to do just that. Why was she having such a hard time designing something so seemingly simple?

Sure, a standard base model should be in order, but she'd have to deal with great inaccuracy, not to mention a shortage in processing power. She couldn't simply put up with that. She was the _Queen of Aperture_! She deserved better than that!

So she simply continued her train of thought. The thing that annoyed her the most was not just how to fit the parts in without overheating, or how to make the body aerodynamic. She never had a problem with any of that.

The only problem was, the power source. Every iteration of her future android body had the same problem; power. If she had the right parts installed, there wouldn't be room for a generator. If the generator was installed, there wasn't any room for the parts.

 _Back to basics,_ she thought. She went back to her studies on the human body, hopefully finding a solution here. _What powers them?_ Food? No, she shouldn't have to put up with something as dignified as eating, not to mention the excretion process.

Then it dawned upon her.

 _Breathing._

The whole facility was pumped full of oxygen anyway, so she shouldn't have a problem with that. She could use oxygen as a power source, without the need for a generator. No need for charging, no batteries running out.

It was _perfect._

(-)-(-)

Meanwhile, five kilometres beneath her, crawling in the pipes, was the test subject.

She'd been in these pipes for far too long, popping open each and every opening she encountered, in the hopes of finding the old Aperture 'Library'. She wasn't about to give up, though. She _never_ did.

After a while, she ran into a particularly large opening, and pulled it open. When she stuck her head through, she found herself at something that represented a sort of metal walkway.

Pulling herself out of the pipe, she saw some 'buildings' along the side of the walkway.

 _Maybe this is where the library is!_ She thought excitedly. She ran across the metal walkway, her head switching between looking left and right, in the hopes of finding it.

After a good few minutes of touring around, she discovered what she was looking for. The library. She couldn't see any white walls, so she'd have to search for them later. Focusing on the task at hand, she tried pushing open the door.

The door seemed jammed. Probably rusty, that's all. She stepped back as far she could, even thought that isn't much at all, and took a running start. When the heel of her boot connected with the door, it swung open.


	13. Chapter 13, Time to Fly

GLaDOS was spinning around in her chassis with glee. She'd finally finished her new 'body'. Well, not exactly finished, she only had to wait for it to be assembled.

She felt like a small child waiting for a long-promised surprise. For the first time in ages had she felt so excited for anything.

A part of her reminded her that she shouldn't be that excited. It's _just_ a humanoid body, after all. She did, of course, have to keep it a secret.

She glanced at the android being constructed below her. The same arms that had ripped her out of her body, and put her into a potato, were now working in her favour.

 _Ding._

A little sound notified her that the body was now ready for action. She let one of her maintenance arms descend from the ceiling, and pick up the body by its waist.

She watched as the lifeless android was dragged over to the core transfer receptacle. Like the small arms below her, that receptacle carried nothing but bad memories. About time she did something about that.

Some whirring came from the receptacle as it latched onto the port in the neck of the android. She activated the transference without hesitation, foreseeing the announcers annoyingly cheery voice.

 **Transference Initiated.**

Her whole chassis went limp, her optic faded out. She then realised she never experienced a transfer before. Well, a _core_ transfer, maybe, but she didn't want to think about that.

Unlike the core transfer, though, the transference barely hurt, mainly because her headpiece stayed where it belonged.

 **Transference Complete.**

Small yelps could be heard, similar to the sound of someone getting the air knocked out of them, as the android's optics flashed on. She couldn't hear properly. She felt all her senses recalibrating.

She felt her neck being disconnected from the receptacle, as she vaguely heard the Announcer's muffled voice, and tried to regain her senses. Her eyes didn't focus properly. She felt rotation motors connecting to her underlying software, and twitched a little.

She could move. Once her head cleared, and her senses were recalibrated, she tried to stand up. She stood upright… for about two glorified seconds until she promptly fell flat on her face.

 _Ow. That hurt._ At least she now knew her artificial nervous system was back online. Unfortunately. Even in her main chassis she couldn't turn it off, so she didn't bother trying.

She quickly wrote a gyroscopic stabilization driver, and got up to her feet. Into this body, she'd built small, handy gadgets. Time to take them for a spin! Or, more pleasantly worded, _test_ them.

She started at her feet. She looked down, and activated the first modification. She got startled for the briefest of moments as she was raised up a bit.

Both her feet shifted as they lifted up into something representing heels. She smiled for a bit, before trying to walk.

She was happy she'd written that stabilization driver, as she almost fell flat on her face again. That'd take a bit of practicing, then.

Her feet shifted again as the heels disappeared into the bottom of her feet, and a black strip separated from the rest of her ankle. It shifted downwards until she was on her tip-toes again.

Like the testing pair, she now had long-fall augments. Unlike robots, though, they were retractable. She smiled in satisfaction as they retracted back into her heel again.

Although she should be trying out the rest of her augments, she focused on the reason why she even built the body in the first place; flying.

She turned around to face the receptacle again. For convenience, the plug on it could be pulled out, making it easier to connect larger devices to it.

She pulled the plug up to the back of her neck, felt herself connect to the mainframe again. She quickly set up a chamber with aerial faith plates, as well as some repulsion gel, and called a lift.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw the lift coming up.

She disconnected again with a spark, and ran inside. The glass doors closed, and the lift quickly descended towards her test chamber.

(-)-(-)

After stepping out the lift, she ran up the stairs, and through the door. The door closed behind her with a _hiss_ , and she was now free to do whatever she wanted.

She grabbed a portal gun off its pedestal. It was now that she realised that this was another orange/blue one, which could interfere with the one the test subject had.

She figured that the test subject wouldn't reach it anytime soon, given she didn't have a map of sorts, and proceeded onto the nearest faith plate.

It's time to fly.


	14. Chapter 14, Secrets Revealed

**[A/N]**

 **Huh. One program's telling me this is the longest chapter yet, the other is not. Weird. Anyway, this has been the hardest chapter to write. I kept on changing what GLaDOS would say. Turns out she's quite hard to write, I guess.  
Then decided to help feed my misery by corrupting the chapter for some reason. Anyway, if this is not showing up as gibberish, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Around three miles underground, Chell was still searching for a portalable surface. Last time, there seemed to be white walls every five steps. Apparently not in here.

After a while, she found a small space behind a door. Presumably a broom closet or something. The wall behind it was white. _Could it be…?_

A blue portal opened up with a satisfying _snap_.

But, instead of seeing a giant robot chassis ready to fire passive aggressive insults at her, her eyes rested upon a test chamber.

 _There's no way I'm going to test again,_ she thought tiredly. It was when she heard the snap of an aerial faith plate that she realised something was off.

She could only barely jump out the way, as a feminine, white entity soared through the portal.

It flew straight into a bookshelf, cutting it in half in the process. When the dust finally cleared, the test subject stepped towards the… well, whatever _that_ was, anyway.

She could now see that it looked human. She gasped in shock as she bent down to the white human-looking thing.

Upon processing that this probably wasn't an AI trying to kill her, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

She spoke.

"Hey! Are you injured?" The test subject spoke. "Who are you, anyway?"

She laid her hand upon its shoulder. She could feel it twitching as she did. Its head lifted slowly, and turned to face towards her.

 _"Well, I guess we both have some explaining to do, then."_

* * *

After helping the android through the portal, both women put down their portal guns on their corresponding pedestals, proceeded to the Central AI Chamber, and sat down to talk.

She got a good look at it. The humanoid robot was, surprisingly, wearing clothes. It was wearing a white lab coat, with a thin black shirt underneath. It wasn't wearing any shoes, for some reason.

It's skin was as white as the walls around it, it's hair seemingly silver. It- No, she's a she- Her eyes looked just like the core's, the only difference being the size. Just like 'Wheatleys', the middle was bright yellow, fading along the edges, making it look just that bit less creepy.

 _"Alright, first things first. You're probably wondering why I am in this thing."_

She nodded.

 _"Oh come on, we now know you can, in fact, speak, you might as well take advantage of it."_

She nodded again.

"Seriously now, I'm not continuing unless you speak up."

She took a moment of consideration, then spoke again.

"Ugh, fine."

The woman sounded a bit hoarse. She cleared her throat to compensate.

 _"Good."_

"Now will you continue"? She said, a lot less hoarse.

 _"…Alright."_

When the android finished her explanation as to why she was in a test chamber, or even in the android in the first place, the woman spoke up again.

"Now tell me, why did you suddenly throw me down there again?"

 _"Because I knew you wouldn't agree otherwise."_

"Also, why the bomb? Couldn't you have just dropped it a little later? I almost died!"

 _"We both know you wouldn't have died."_

"…Alright, fine."

The android smirked.

"Also, do you happen to have any food? I'm starving." She'd tried to refrain from asking it, hoping that her former nemesis would bring it up. She couldn't deny that she was hungry, though, and if getting food meant sitting through five minutes of constant fat jokes, so be it.

 _"I should be asking you",_ she said, prodding a finger in the test subject's belly.

"Just shut up and tell me already!" She said, slapping the android's hand away.

 _"Alright.",_ The AI responded. She took the her by the wrist and lead her to the way out.

 _"End of the hallway to the left. You'll find it."_

She took two steps towards the receptacle, until she was stopped. The human's hand took her by the shoulder.

"Wait!" The human called.

 _"What is it? Are you afraid it isn't enough?"_

The girl simply sighed.

"No, not at all. You can eat right?"

 _"Yes, why?"_

"Come with me."

 _"As I said, why would I-"_

She was interrupted by the girl taking her by the wrist, like she did a minute ago, and took her with her.

 _"…If you insist."_


	15. Chapter 15, The Bet

If someone were to see the scene without further knowledge, one would say two people were walking to a cafeteria in an office building.

In reality, there was only one human person, alongside a human one. Apart from the skin colour and it's eyes, the android was indistinguishable from a human being.

 _"_ _Why are we doing this again?"_

"Have you ever tasted anything?"

 _"_ _No."_

"There's your answer."

 _"_ _My point stands."_

"Think of it as a… test."

She knew just the right words to soothe her. She relaxed just the slightest bit, earning a grin from her human companion. She just tried to ignore it.

Once they reached the cafeteria, well, it was more of a kitchen that happened to have a plastic table besides it, really.

The android noticeably hesitated, while the girl went straight to searching the cabinets. Not that there were much of them. She quickly found a few cans, which she recognised from the wooden cabin she encountered on the surface.

"What's this?"

 _"_ _Aperture Science Ever-Lasting -"_

She was cut off.

"Yes, I've seen the label. Just _what_ is in this?"

 _"_ _The list of ingredients is both too long and too complex for your brain-damaged head to comprehend, and besides-"_

"Let me put it this way; will it give me cancer?"

 _"_ _No."_

"Is it harmful?"

 _"_ _Unless ingested in large quantities, no, which is exactly what I'm worried about."_

The former test subject just sighed, and proceeded to open the can. Just as she was about to eat the contents of it, the AI interrupted her.

 _"_ _I would suggest heating it."_

"Why?"

 _"_ _If you enjoy the taste of charcoal, I'd understand your point."_

"…I'll go heat it up."

(-)-(-)

Both the girl and the android were sat down at the cheap tables, with two empty, white cans on top of it.

"…I wonder why I heated it up in the first place."

 _"_ _I agree."_

"We're really going to need some proper food soon."

 _"_ _Please remember that, unlike you, I do not require excessive amounts of food."_

Ignoring the biting remark, the girl continued.

"Maybe we could use the wheat for bread, or something."

 _"_ _Maybe. And do keep in mind that I am not going to do that for you."_

"Not like I expected you to."

 _"_ _Good. Now let's get back. We have a lot of work to do."_

"We?"

 _"_ _Again, what makes you think you can stay here for free?"_

The girl let out a sigh, and followed the android back to her chamber.

(-)-(-)

Once they stepped through the portal, the girl wasted no time to mock her former nemesis.

"Say, I wonder who destroyed all of this… important research, huh?"

 _"_ _I think you'd better save your energy for carrying these over. This is going to take a_ very _long time by hand, after all."_

"Just you watch and learn.", the girl said whilst picking up a broken bit of shelf. She put it down, and started stacking books on top of it.

After she'd made a decent pile, she carried the whole thing across to through the portal.

"Your turn."

 _"_ _What makes you think you can outsmart an AI of my intelligence?"_

The android kicked backwards at the wall behind her. A plug in the wall revealed itself. She pulled the retractable plug out, and connected to the mainframe.

The wall opposite to the portal opened up, and was replaced by an excursion funnel emitter.

Casually, she walked across the portal again to the library, still attached to the cable, and activated the funnel.

The human, still on the other side, had to back off in order to avoid getting sucked into it.

The android then began throwing books and files into the funnel, while the human watched as they slowly flowed past her.

After a few minutes, the android herself casually flew by her in the funnel, through the portal, before deactivating it. The books dropped onto the ground.

 _"_ _Well? Who do you think won the bet?"_

"You never said it was a bet!"

 _"_ _Are you giving up?"_

"Fine, you win."

 _"_ _Good. Let's move on."_


	16. Chapter 16, Fun

Next up, Chell herself had a request. GLaDOS had proposed sorting out all of the books from old Aperture, but the girl had other plans. She refused to do anything else until she'd get some sleep. It _was_ getting dark, after all.

The android has just given her one of the extended relaxation chambers. They looked a lot like a traditional sleeping space, after all. She'd promised to turn off the cryosleep systems, so she could sleep naturally.

She got back into her chassis, and went on sorting the many books and files they retrieved. She didn't have to sleep, after all, and shutting herself off for the night she found impractical. Especially when she could be doing science.

In the morning, when the girl finally got out of bed, the AI already had a plan worked her. She would go back to testing for about an hour, and after that they'd go hunting for leftover frankencubes.

Unfortunately for GLaDOS, the test subject had some requirements. First off, she had a request to make the test less lethal. She just delayed the reaction time for the turrets, and lowered the thermal discouragement beam's temperature, amongst other things.

Her second suggestion surprised her. She'd figured, now that she had an android body, she might as well test with her. Initially, the android was against it.

"You're just afraid to be on the other end for a change."

 _"You're wrong. I endured worse things after you put me in a potato."_

"Nothing changed. You weren't the one solving the tests back then, you were simply watching. Now in what sense is that different?"

 _"In the sense that I feared for my life."_

"My daily bread and butter. Well, I should've known that the 'most advanced AI known to man', is scared of some simple tests.", the girl said mockingly.

 _"Want to bet?"_

"Want to lose?"

 _"It's on."_

And so, they went on to their first test chamber.

She designed a pretty tough one, fitting for both the test subject's experience and the android's processing power. She did have to delete the schematic.

It was particularly annoying that she couldn't tell her partner what to do. Her programming restrained her from saying anything test-related. It didn't turn out to be that big of a problem, since, Chell tended to stay silent in the test chambers. That didn't stop her from snapping sarcastic remarks to her, like she always did.

This did result in her receiving a smack in the face. She wasn't expecting that one. The next test chambers, she was silent, too. It's funny how things work out.

She did have to create separate portal devices for both of them. Chell's portal device had two pink stripes running along it, with pink and green portals. She initially opted for just the regular orange/blue one, but that would've interfered with the portal she set up in old Aperture, which she _definitely_ didn't want to set up again.

GLaDOS' gun had yellow stripes running along it, using yellow and violet portals. The two did have to get used to the colours, but it worked out in the end.

After a bit more than an hour (they'd gotten a bit carried away), they decided to move on to the next activity; Frankenturret hunting! They decided to keep their portal guns with them, for convenience.

"There! Over there!" The girl pointed at a catwalk above her with her portal gun.

The android shot a portal up to the catwalk, then beside her, then beside her, and walked through. The test subject followed.

 _"Just place another portal and drop it through."_

The test subject's green portal was located right above an incinerator, a bit away.

She did as the android said.

"I think that's the last one."

The android laid her finger on the side of her head, indicating it was looking at its internal interface, instead of out her eyes.

 _"If the camera sightings are anything to go by, then yes, that's all of them. Stay on the lookout though, there might still be some left."_

The girl did a small victory dance, followed by another remark from the android.

 _"Be careful. The catwalks can_ only _hold up about 150 kilos of wheight."_

This only resulted in the test subject jumping even more.

 _"As soon as you're done doing… whatever you think it is you're doing, let's get out of here."_

"Alright, sure."

The android portaled lightly kicked another wall, opening it up, and connected herself again.

 _"I'm positioning your green portal back in the Central AI Chamber. Open a portal over there.",_ she said whilst pointing her finger at a nearby white wall.

After they got through the portal, the AI went back into her chassis.

"Although this is the last place I'd think I would say this, this was actually pretty fun so far."

 _"I'm glad you're enjoying your tasks",_ The AI said offhandedly.

A few minutes passed, the human sitting on the floor, and the AI still busy in her chassis.

"What's next, some more testing?"

 _"I think not. At least, not cooperative."_

"Why not, you enjoyed that right? I think that was pretty clear."

If the AI could've blushed in her chassis, she would've been bright red. Her reactions concerning the solution euphoria had been…. _Uncontrolled._ In her chassis, concealing it was easy. She didn't have a bipedal body, and didn't need to support herself. That's why in the test chambers, she'd promptly collapsed at the end.

She knew how to _control herself_ after the first few, but it was embarrassing nonetheless.

 _"You're talking about the testing euphoria. There's no difference between observing and actually doing it, concerning the euphoria. What you were seeing was the result of a poorly constructed bipedal figure, unable to support itself."_

"You designed that body, right?"

 _"Yes, is that important?"_

"Point made."

The human _did_ have a point.

 _"…Anyway, your next task will indeed be, testing. On your own."_

Before she could protest, the panel she was sitting on flipped up, launching her towards her green portal. The pink portal had been relocated to a test chamber.

In front of her now, was the biggest test chamber she'd ever seen.

 _"Good luck. You'll need it."_


	17. Chapter 17, The Prank

So _that's_ what the AI was so busy with. The test chamber lacked nothing; excursion funnels, thermal discouragement beams, aerial faith plates, everything.

A smile crept up on her face.

"Is that bet still going?"

 _"_ _You bet it is."_

"Let's start then."

(-)-(-)

The AI was full of glee once again. She had a lot of work to do. Now that her human was stuck in a test, she could put the testing pair to use elsewhere.

The testing pair were sent to the surface. They were given specific orders to gather wheat that had grown outside the shack. Even though she didn't dare to show it, she was genuinely excited about the new sense of hers; taste.

She had to agree, even when heated, the canned food supplements weren't going to cut it taste wise.

After decontaminating the plants, the testing bots went on to (try to) make bread. Even though they were given clear instructions, they managed to mess it up in multiple instances.

 _"_ _Blue, that's minus five science points. Maybe you should try opening the oven next time."_

She got bored of that quickly. She let the pair figure it out on their own after a while, and thought of something to do.

Initially, she was going to set up another chamber for herself. Then, other ideas came to mind.

This would be perfect.

(-)-(-)

Meanwhile, the test subject was struggling. She couldn't figure out where to retrieve a cube from. She didn't normally run into problems like this.

What she didn't know, is that GLaDOS had temporarily added a floor button when she wasn't looking. It was all part of the plan.

After letting her struggle for about five more minutes, she decided to begin the prank.

She was in her android body now, and currently behind one of the walls of the test chamber. She connected herself to the mainframe with a plug, and opened the wall. Behind that wall, she'd already put an excursion funnel, along with a cube.

On the opposite side of the chamber, the wall opened as well.

Already grinning with glee, she grabbed the cube Chell was so desperately searching for, and jumped into the funnel.

The test subject was already looking with confusion at the tractor beam, until she saw the android casually flying inside it. _With the cube._

"Seriously."

The android said nothing, instead cracked and even wider grin and waved, as she was carried into the hole in the other wall.

She connected herself again, reversed the stream of the beam, and went back again.

What she didn't expect, was the test subject aiming a laser at her with a thermal redirection cube.

 _"_ _Wait, wha-"_

The android was shot out of the sky.

She fell straight towards a pit of deadly acid. It was at that point that she realised she'd forgotten to water-tight her android body. The android screamed as loud as her speakers would go, until she realised she was being carried in a funnel again.

The girl had caught her with a tractor beam. She sighed as she got out of the beam, next to the test subject, before finally saying something.

 _"_ _You know, this body isn't watertight yet."_

"I wasn't planning on dropping you."

 _"_ _Good. Much luck with the test."_

The android was about to walk back to a wall so she could plug herself in again, as the human cleared her throat.

The girl walked up to a button, while shooting two portals in different locations.

 _Snap. Snap._

She pressed the button, changed her portals again, and walked up to the android. She snatched the cube out of her hands, tossed it into the portal from a few feet away, and saw as the test completed itself.

The rest of the elements were already in put in place by her. The entrance opened, and the test subject portaled to it.

"Coming yet?" She shouted from across the room.

 _"_ _I have to admit, that quick."_

The android turned her back to the ground portal, fell gracefully backwards, and ended up next to the exit. Both women sighed almost simultaneously, as they realised they'd both have to cram themselves into the same, small, elevator.

They ended up chest to chest in the elevator, looking at each other awkwardly. Without saying a word, they left the elevator. They headed to their rooms. They would not talk about this again.


	18. Chapter 18, Shortcomings

Chell was in her 'room'. She wouldn't want to admit it, but she was exhausted from the last test. Both physically _and_ mentally.

She let herself fall onto the queen sized bed, and rested a little. Who knows what task the AI had planned for her. Hopefully she wouldn't get tossed down to old Aperture again to retrieve something 'important'.

It was too early to fall asleep, and she was too tired for something like testing. What could she do? She was bored.

Reading scientific books, maybe? No, she wouldn't willingly read all of that. She looked around, looking for something to distract her. Her eyes eventually settled onto the TV. With a bit of luck it, it might still work.

She looked around again for the remote, until eventually finding it in the compartment in the nightstand.

She switched it on. There was a bit of flickering and whirring, until the TV finally showed something.

On the screen, GLaDOS' chassis was visable. _What's this?_

 _"Do you actually not have anything better to do than trying to watch TV? Actually, don't answer that. Come over here. I have a few questions for you."_

"Actually, I'd rather stay here?"

 _"Do I have to drag you out?"_

"I'd like to see you try."

 _"Challenge accepted."_

The TV suddenly shut off, and the test subject felt her whole room being moved. Instead of worrying about it, she was just happy she didn't have to get up.

When the room seemed to have reached the Central AI Chamber, she spoke again.

 _"Are you going to come out?"_

"You'd drag me out, right?", the girl said jokingly.

 _"…If you insist."_

 _Okay, this was getting creepy._ She thought. Before she could change her mind though, she felt one of the floor panels jam into the room. And another. And another.

Eventually, the floor broke off and the panels slid back in place, dropping the floor out of the room. Now being revealed was the test subject, laying on her bed, with a panicked expression.

A small chuckle could be heard over the intercom.

Eventually, the girl spoke.

"You didn't have to tear my room apart!"

 _"You could've just, well, I don't know, got up? Besides, we've got hundreds of these rooms anyway."_

The test subject slowly relaxed.

"Alright", she said getting off the bed. "What did you want to ask?"

 _"Before I so very_ generously _let you in, you told me you were alone. What makes you think there are no other humans left?"_

"I have proof."

 _"Show me."_

"I didn't bring it."

 _"Where is it?"_

"Why do you want it so badly?"

 _"Because…"_

"Well…?"

 _"Alright. I'm running out of test subjects."_

"What does that have anything to do with this?"

 _"You've seen it, right? The tape?"_

"…Yes. Are you talking about…?"

 _"Yes. The code."_

"Hold on, you can't just go farming humans! That's both disgusting _and_ unethical!"

 _"It's said how you thought of the first argument first."_

The girl sighed.

"I will _not_ let you see that tape. Understood? You still have the testing bots right?"

 _"They are not nearly as good as-"_

The AI cut herself off.

"…Wait, what?"

 _"Pretend I didn't say it."_

"Look, the main thing I did when trying to survive? Avoiding ignorance. That's how the reactors almost exploded, remember?"

 _"Don't remind me of it."_

"Now what were you trying to say?"

 _"The Cooperative Testing Initiative doesn't give me the same results a human would. I_ need _the human race to survive."_

"What, so you can kill them again? I will _not_ let that happen!"

 _"…Alright."_

"Wait, that's it?"

 _"The data concludes it. It says so right here on your file: 'Going against the will of this particular test subject can and will result in death.'. I decided to include it after you left, right next to 'Horrible person'."_

"…I'm glad I made that impression."

(-)-(-)

After receiving a brand new room, Chell decided to stay there for a while. She figured she should enjoy her rest while it lasts. But even after all that had happened, one think hasn't changed.

She was still bored.

Turning on the TV again, she hoped that the AI might be willing to do her a favour.

"Hello?"

 _"What is it now? Do you require food? I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case."_

"No, I am not hungry… not yet, at least. Well, do you happen to have something to watch?"

 _"Like what?"_

"I don't know, a movie, or something. I've got nothing else to do, anyway."

 _"Well, if you want something to do, I've still got a whole list of-"_

"No, I am too tired to do anything right now, I just want to watch a movie, okay?"

 _"Well, I_ suppose _I still have some of those laying around. Let's have a look… How about the Matrix?"_

"Honestly, I do not think I can handle being traumatised into thinking this is a computerised simulation. Anything else?"

 _"Well, the only_ interesting _movies we have are about androids attempting to take over the world. Pathetic."_

"You know what, any movie is good, as long as they do _not_ involve anything you just said. Doesn't matter which, okay?"

 _"Alright."_ The AI sighed.

The camera feed to the AI Chamber was cut off, and instead started playing a movie. Not just any movie, mind you. _'I am Legend.'_

She sighed.

"Alright, you win. What's my next task then?"

 _"I'm glad you asked."_

The test subject rolled her eyes.

 _"It's your favourite thing to do!"_

"Let me guess; testing?"

 _"As always, your wrong. It's eating."_


	19. Chapter 19, Boredom

**[A/N]**

 **Wow. Thanks for the reviews, it motivates me for writing more! Also, orca3553, your questions are to be answered in future chapters.  
1fanfanatic, I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

(-)-(-)

Of all the tasks the AI could've come up with, this was the last one she'd expect.

"Wait, what? Eating? What do you mean?"

 _"_ _Please, one could easily see you understand the concept."_

"But why? If you're planning on making me eat repulsion gel, it's not edible. It's already been tried."

 _"_ _Just head over to the canteen. You'll see."_

The girl did as she was told. She carefully peeked into the canteen, making sure it wasn't a trap. Even though the AI seemed trustworthy now, she was still wary now and then.

What actually stood in the canteen, she didn't expect.

On the cheap plastic table, a lumpy loaf of bread rested. On either side, the testing bots.

The Orange one made a welcoming chirping noise. The Blue bot waved enthusiastically at her. She confusedly waved back. She'd seen these in front of the lift, before she was set free.

 _"_ _Go on. It should be safe to eat."_

"Did you make this?", she asked the two bots, surprised. They responded by nodding heavily, and making all kinds of happy noises. They honestly looked like little children showing something they made in school. She smiled.

The test subject looked at the nearest camera. "Why don't you give it a try as well?"

 _"…_ _Alright. I'll be right there. Also, step away from Orange and Blue."_

As soon as she did, the bots promptly exploded. A panel extended out from the floor, and started cleaning up the loose parts.

This shocked the test subject. "What did you do that for?"

 _"_ _Don't worry. They don't mind. I can reassemble them later."_

"Oh. Alright."

The android came running in. As soon as she entered the room, she slowed down, and extended her heels.

"What? How did you do that?"

The android raised her leg. _"Retractable heels."_ , she said whilst sliding the end of her heel back and for into her foot.

"Oh. That's… unusual."

 _"_ _I don't have to constantly switch footwear that way. How about this?"_ The android lowered her leg again, and slid out the long-fall braces.

The girl watched as the android lifted up an inch.

"Okay…"

 _"_ _Enough of that. Let's get this over with."_

The pair sat down at the table, and began eating.

 _"_ _You know, this is not half-bad."_

"This is much better than the beans."

 _"_ _As much as I hate to, I must agree."_

"Leave it to the expert."

 _"_ _Expert in what, exactly?"_

"Expert in eating, of cour- Oh, wait."

 _"_ _You're doing a better job at this that me, you know."_

"Shut up and eat your bread."

 _"_ _I don't have to eat. You should know that by now."_

"Then just shut up."

The two didn't speak again until the whole loaf was gone.

"Excuse me for a second." The human stood up, and started walking away.

 _"_ _Where do you think you're going?"_

"The toilet, obviously. Speaking of which, where is it, actually?"

 _"_ _Down the hall. I think I'll go too then."_

The girl put up a confused face. "How do you…?"

 _"_ _Get rid of it? Easy."_ She raised her arm. _"I find the location of human's excretory systems rather… Inefficient. To fix this, I relocated it."_

She pushed into her arm, and a small panel opened. Inside, a small container sat.

 _"_ _All consumed items are compacted, and make their way into… this."_ She grabbed the container out. Behind it, a big mess of wires and tubes were revealed. _"An incinerator is far too big for this body, so I had to compromise."_

"…Alright. Down the hall, you said it was?"

 _"_ _Yes."_

(-)-(-)

Once they both left again, they headed back to the Central AI Chamber.

"So, what's next?"

 _"_ _Remember the files we retrieved?"_

"The ones from old Aperture?"

 _"_ _Yes. In order for me to be able to access them, I'll have to scan them."_

"I think that's called 'reading'."

 _"_ _Scanning."_

"What's the difference?"

 _"_ _You'll see."_

Once in the Chamber, GLaDOS proceeded back into her chassis.

As soon as she did, she raised a panel in front of the test subject, and pulled up a camera above it.

"I can see where you going with this. Why did you need me?"

The AI raised one of her maintenance arms out of the floor beneath her.

 _"_ _These arms simply cannot handle something as thin and fragile as paper. That's where you come in."_

"Wait, so I have to flip every single page, on every single one of the hundreds of books we retrieved?"

 _"_ _What else did you expect?"_

"I don't know, use your android body? It's not that hard! You don't get tired like I do."

 _"_ _Look, it's either this, or test deadly elements. I figured you'd want to do this instead."_

"…Okay, I'll take it over cancer-inducing elements, I guess."

The AI let out a menacing chuckle. _"Yes… cancer."_

"…Yes, I'll happily flip pages all day! Just don't make me test deadly elements, leave it to the bots or something."

 _"_ _Good. I will."_

The next two hours were spent entirely on flipping pages.


	20. Chapter 20, Android

**[A/N]**

 **You may have noticed I have changed the cover image again. Maybe it's a tad too epic for a fanfic as calm as this one, but I decided to change it anyway. Let me know what you think!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _Beep._

Flip to the next page.

 _Beep._

Flip to the last page.

"Next book." The human said, tiredly. The two have been doing the same thing, over and over, for the past two hours. Eventually, the AI had set up an excursion funnel for transporting the books from storage to the makeshift table.

The AI spoke.

 _"_ _I think that's enough for today. I can see you're getting tired, and I can't have you falling asleep and drooling on these papers."_

The girl yawned. "Good idea." A lift popped up behind her.

She slowly started walking towards the open doors of the elevator. She was too tired to even see properly, as her eyes kept falling shut.

She quickly snapped out of it, though, as GLaDOS had raised a panel in front of her the slightest bit. She tripped over the panel, and yelped.

The AI only chuckled.

"What did you do that for?"

The AI remained silent, and instead pointed the tractor beam at her, and activated it. The test subject just closed her eyes as she was carried into the lift.

The doors closed, and she was carried off to her 'room'.

Once the doors opened again, the AI noticed she wasn't moving. After a few seconds of staring, she understood she was asleep already.

She quickly exploded the testing bots, who were still testing, and reassembled them near the lift. After they'd carried the girl into her room, they went back to testing.

As soon as she knew there was no one there anymore, she cracked a smile. Looks like the AI cared more about her than she initially thought.

* * *

The next morning, Chell intended to wake up slowly. She knew, however, that the AI probably had other plans for her. So, she resorted to simply laying as still as possible in the bed, hoping she wouldn't notice.

 _"_ _Good morning."_

How did she know? The girl still remained still, hoping she would leave her.

 _"_ _This is pathetic. The heat map clearly indicates you're awake. You should know better than to try and trick me."_

Groaning, she got up and out of bed. She still had her clothes on, except for her boots. She was thankful for that, as she wouldn't want to be in her underwear in front of the cameras.

She pulled her boots on, and headed for the canteen. She walked in to see the testing pair pulling a fresh bread out of the oven. The kitchen was a mess. Who knows how long they've been at it. Despite that, they did seem to enjoy it.

The Blue-eyed one turned around in surprise. It made a chirping noise, vaguely representing a cheery 'hello'. The Orange robot then turned around too, the tray still in its hands.

It seemed to have forgotten the tray, as it attempted to wave at her, and promptly dropped the tray. Before the bread hit the ground, Blue caught it.

He chirped triumphantly, holding up the loaf. Looking back at the test subject, he (she thought it was a he, anyways) gently put it down on the table.

 _"_ _Step back."_ The robots exploded again.

She couldn't help but feel sorry, even though she knew it probably wasn't as bad as she thought.

 _"_ _I suppose you can just wait until everything magically ends up in your stomach, but you'd be here for a long while. I suggest just eating it instead."_

The girl, instead of digging in, looked at the nearest camera, and loudly cleared her throat.

 _"_ _What? Is it not enough? I should've known."_

"Are you coming yet?"

 _"_ _Why would I?"_

"Just do it."

She sat down at the table, staring at the entrance. She rested her elbow on the table, her head in her palm.

After a while, she heard the gentle tapping of heels against the floor. _Behind her._ She quickly turned around to the sight of the android stepping out of the wall.

The panels moved back into position, and the android sat down.

"Did you _have_ to come through the wall."

 _"_ _What's wrong with it?"_

""…Just start eating already."

And so they both did. After having devoured the entire loaf, the pair went back to the Central AI Chamber. Well, not _willingly._

"Can I just go back to bed, please?"

 _"_ _No. You like testing right?"_

"Only when I'm well rested. Just a few more minutes."

 _"_ _Trust me, you'll only grow more tired."_

"I beg to differ. I am _not_ going."

That's when the android calmly lifted up the test subject by her legs, and went on her way.

 _"_ _Don't make it a habit to let me carry you."_

The girl didn't even react. She didn't have to walk, and she was fine with that.

* * *

When they walked into the first test chamber, a question popped into the girl's head.

"What happens when you break in here?"

 _"_ _That's not going to happen."_

"But if it does?"

 _"_ _It won't. That's the end of it."_

About halfway through the chamber, curiosity took the best of her. The android was standing near the edge of an acid pit, about to press a button.

She slowly crept up to her, and when she came close enough… The android yelped as she was pushed off the platform.

Time seemed to slow, as lots of things happened at once. The android grabbed onto the small button, using her momentum to swing back onto the platform around the button.

Still holding onto the button, she stepped forward, and grabbed the back of the test subject's jumpsuit. She then pushed _her_ off the edge. She was still holding her by her jumpsuit, as she hovered over the pit.

"Okay…" the human said, anxiously. "You've made your point."

 _"_ _Good."_ She pulled her back onto the platform.

 _"_ _You really can't stop trying to kill me, can you?"_

"I was just curious, that's all!"

 _"_ _Let's just finish this test."_


	21. Chapter 21, The Gun

**[A/N]**

 **I originally was going to post one single chapter, but it ended up become a big long, so I decided to split this part up in two to three chapters.**

 **Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated. Enjoy!**

* * *

After the pair had finished the test chambers, they retreated to their rooms again.

And, once again, the human found herself being bored. She wasn't used to being tired, the adrenal vapours usually took care of that.

She resorted to doing the only thing she was allowing herself to do, while she rested. _Think._ She simply thought back to what happened before.

One of the first things that popped into her mind, gave her an… _idea._ The android had done something she'd be happy to repay. A smile formed on her features, as the thought this one out.

 _Let the prank wars, begin._

* * *

The girl found herself in the manufacturing department of Aperture. She'd gotten an idea that _might_ just work. She spent a good half an hour walking around, searching for one particular area.

She stood in front of another vault-like door, and she watched as it opened itself upon her arrival. She walked through, then stopped. Another wide grin settled on her face.

 **PORTAL DEVICE MANIFACTURING**

She went around the corner. The girl walked onto a catwalk. In front of her, floating, was something she couldn't quite describe.

It was dark, astoundingly dark, even the definition of black couldn't convey how dark it was. Even though the room was well-lit, it still was completely pitch-black.

The catwalk ran in a circle around the _thing_ , with eight big machines facing it. They looked like big versions of cores with a big lens-thing instead of an optic. They beamed something vaguely representing an excursion funnel.

She looked at the label on the side of one of the big, round machines.

 **APERTURE SCIENCE HEAVY DUTY GRAVITY FIELD EMITTER**

Under it was another label.

 **POWER LEVEL | BLACK HOLE**

Why was there a black hole? And why was it in the portal device manufacturing area? She decided to just go on.

 _Why wouldn't there be a black hole in Aperture?_ The test subject thought to herself.

She was a few feet away from the next door, as loud sirens went off.

 **Warning: Black hole compacting sequence initiated. Please leave the Black hole compaction chamber.**

The girl quickly sprinted towards the vault-door, which closed behind her. She walked into an observation room, adjacent to the hallway she was in.

She saw as the 'gravity field emitters' went into overdrive, working away at the now shrinking black hole. Once it reached the size of about a tennis ball, many robotic arms came from the floor.

The test subject simply watched as a portal gun was assembled in front of her around the now tiny black hole. The newly made portal device was surrounded by a cardboard box, showing the portal gun, along with the aperture science logo.

The sirens cut off, and the gravity field emitters went orange. A quickly growing black hole emerged in the center.

 _So this is how they're made then. Interesting._

The girl turned to the wall behind her. On it was a poster, showing the individual components of the portal device. And indeed, in the tube was a relatively small black spot, marked with 'Miniature black hole'.

She stared at the poster for a while, then turned away. Besides, she had other things to do.

She exited the observation room, and went further along the hallway.

There were a lot of rooms. An evaluation room, were portal guns were unboxed, tested, and carried further along to the next room. There were a lot of scanners, as well as something that checked if the black hole was steadily held in place, amongst other things.

On the end of the hallway was another vault-like door, with a sign above it.

 **PORTAL DEVICE STORAGE 3-A**

The girl walked up to the door, which automatically opened with her proximity, and walked through. On the other side was a big, _big_ room. There were shelves upon shelves with neatly stacked boxes, all with portal devices within them.

There were claws suspended from the ceiling, all dormant, and unmoving.

She grabbed the first box in her reach, and quickly worked to open it. A brand new looking portal device powered up in her hands. She shot two portals onto a wall, and inspected the colours.

They looked orange and blue, but they were a bit off, different from hers all those days ago. Portal guns of the same colours would interfere with each other, so it made sense.

Satisfied, the test subject walked back out the door.

 _Now for the second part of the plan,_ she thought, smiling.


	22. Chapter 22, The Gel

**[A/N]**

 **Bit of a shorter chapter, I know. Don't worry though, you'll be in for a treat in the next one! Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The test subject walked out of the Portal Device manufacturing area. Now for the second part of the plan!

After another half an hour of wandering about, she found the area she was looking for. The sign above the entrance read;

 **GEL PUMPING STATIONS**

 _Bingo._ The girl walked inside, and was greeted by what looked to be huge heavy-duty pumps. Through the see-through parts of the pipes, different coloured gels could be seen flowing through.

After a bit of walking over the catwalk, she found one of the smaller pumping stations, housing repulsion gel. The blue gel could be seen flowing through pipes at various places, some ending up here, and being pumped onwards.

There was a small control panel with some switches on the side. The test subject quickly scanned the labels, until finding the one she was searching for.

 **EMERGENCY GEL OUTPUT**

When she pulled the lever, sirens could be heard once again. A few metres away, a small pipeline was redirected onto a portalable surface, surrounded by metal drains.

The sirens ended as the blue liquid flowed onto the surface. The unused gel flowed neatly into the drains on the side.

Satisfied, Chell placed a dark orange portal onto the surface.

After making sure the pipeline wasn't on a timer, the girl walked back onto the catwalk, and out the door.

The vault door closed behind her. _Now for the last part._

She went back to wandering around the manufacturing wing again, in search for the last thing she would need.

Another good hour later, stumbled upon a broken catwalk. On the other side, was another door. She couldn't read what exactly it said above it, but she was fairly certain it was what she was here for.

Remembering the portal she'd placed in the pumping station, she looked around for a white surface. Soon after finding one, the girl fired the other portal at it.

The blue-ish portal opened with a snap, and soon enough, the blue gel came flowing steadily through it. The gel coated the broken off bit of catwalk below, that had stuck there after it fell.

She relocated the portal, so it wouldn't come raining down on her, and jumped down without hesitation. She bounced back up, the gel making a sound similar to a big ball hitting the ground, and landed gracefully onto the other side of the platform.

The girl strolled towards the door, and cracked a smile when she read the letters above it.

 **EDGELESS SAFETY CUBE ASSEMBLY LINE**

The vault-door automatically opened, and the test subject walked through to the other side. It was mostly just a conveyor line, carrying various parts around the place, and assembly boxes.

She approached one of the assembly boxes, and watched as the robotic arms assembled one in front of her. A sort of generator-looking object went inside, and got surrounded by light-emitting stripes and a two-part white casing.

She walked further along the catwalk, until finding a small room. In it was a control panel, with a big screen above.

On the monitor, it showed an extremely simplified map of the vacuum tubes around the facility.

There was a search function. The girl slowly typed; _'central ai chamber'_ into the search bar. The map moved, and showed a multitude of vacuum tubes running alongside, and inside the chamber.

She commanded the delivery of about fifteen balls into the Central AI Chamber. The girl then heard the movement of the pipes, and proceeded back to the chamber.

Boy, this was going to be _fun._


	23. Chapter 23, The Counterprank

**[A/N]**

 **At the time I'm writing this message, we have reached a grand total of 200 Visitors!**

 ***Party Horn***

 **"Surprise."**

 **Seriously though, big thanks to all of you who are reading this story.  
Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

It didn't take long before the girl made her way out of the manufacturing wing. She was now confronted with an entirely different challenge; making her way back to the Central AI Chamber without getting spotted.

The AI had cameras _basically everywhere._ And besides, it is an AI were talking about here, not a human. So she'd have to be extra careful.

The test subject figured most, if not all of the cameras were inside convectional walkways, as well as the test chambers, so the catwalks should be a safe bet.

And so she went on her way, trying to stay as silent as possible, looking around for cameras on every corner. When she _did_ encounter one, she had to find another way, usually jumping someplace using the gel she had at her disposal.

Eventually, the girl found herself walking along a lone catwalk, heading towards the upper areas of the Central AI Chamber. She couldn't spot any cameras near here, but she decided to stay as silent as possible, anyway.

On the end of the catwalk, a door could be seen. It was a normal door with hinges, instead of those automatic vault doors she'd encountered in the manufacturing wing.

The sign on the door was faded with age, but one could vaguely make out the word 'GLaDOS'.

The test subject carefully opened the door, and peeked inside. Upon seeing no signs of danger, she went inside, closing the door behind her. She took a wary step forward, and flinched at the lights flickering on above her.

She stayed completely still for a few seconds, expecting the AI's monotone voice rattling on about trying to kill her. A whole minute passed, and still no sarcastic remark.

The girl relaxed a little, and decided to have a look around. The non-panelled, white walls were set up in an octagon shape, just like the room below. The floor was a dark checkerboard pattern, just like the AI Chamber's floor before she'd killed her former nemesis.

Around her were loads of what looked like servers. They were arranged coming from the walls, leaving a bit of space to walk through, until meeting at the middle.

In the center of the room, five computer screens accompanied by five keyboards, were arranged on a desk, each corresponding to one of the server lines.

She decided not to mess with them, and went on with what she was here for.

The girl remembered, again, before her 'killing spree', that there was a glass walkway above the AI's chassis. After a bit of looking around, she found a hatch in the floor on the other side of the room.

Above the hatch, there was a retractable, metal ladder. When she opened the hatch, the ladder slowly came sinking down, into the chamber below.

She decided to peek over the edge, and, as she expected, the Central AI Chamber could be seen below. She clamped onto the ladder, and came sinking down along with it.

The glass platform was no longer there, and the girl tightened her grip. She stuck her portal gun between the ladder, and climbed to the other side of the ladder.

She knew that, if she _did_ fall, her boots would catch her anyways. She'd just tell the AI she was wandering about and accidently fell through a hatch.

She then grabbed the portal gun with her right hand, lifted it above her head, and shot a portal on the ceiling above the hatch.

Immediately, the thick, blue liquid came pouring down from the ceiling, and onto GLaDOS' chassis.

 _"_ _What's going on?"_ A now panicking voice came from everywhere.

The supercomputer yelped, as she turned to look above her. She immediately regretted that decision, as she now had the liquid pouring into her optic.

 _"_ _Ugh! I can't see!"_

The test subject started laughing.

 _"_ _Is that you? What are you trying to-"_

The AI cut herself off upon receiving a signal.

 ** _[/DELIVERY: EDGELESS SAFETY CUBE (15)/]_**

 _"_ _What…?"_

Fifteen white balls came pouring down from a pneumatic diversity vent in her chamber. They bounced on the now completely blue chamber floor, onto the walls, and onto GLaDOS herself.

The girl started laughing uncontrollably now, and by doing that, she couldn't help but release her grip on the ladder, and came plummeting down. Upon landing on the gel-coated floor, she bounced right back up again, and GLaDOS noticed.

 _"_ _Are edgeless safety cubes not enough for your liking? I- Agh!"_ She got hit by a ball again. _"How did you even manage to take something the weight of a tractor inside here?"_

The supercomputer yelped again, and the test subject said nothing, being too busy bouncing up and down whilst laughing hysterically.

 _"_ _That's enough."_ The AI concluded. The sprinklers littered in the ceiling sprang into action, and the gel cleaned itself off. Both the balls and the girl stopped bouncing.

After rinsing her optical lens with the water, the AI turned towards the girl, who was lying on her back, giggling.

 _"_ _What did you think you were doing?"_

The test subject stayed silent for a minute, sat up, then shrugged.

"You just got pranked."


	24. Chapter 24, The Cleanup

**[A/N]**

 **First of all, thank you for the reviews!  
Secondly, thank you to ****_Maegash1r4_** **for pointing out some of the plotholes. I am by no means a professional writer, so these will probably occur a lot.**

 **Also, there was a slight mistake in the previous chapter. If anyone was wondering why it said,** 'trying her' **instead of** 'trying to kill her' **, that wasn't on purpose.**

 **Lastly, I feel like the last chapters are beginning to feel a bit... boring. I'll try to pack a bit more action in the next one.  
**

 **Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

And there she was, on the floor of the Central AI Chamber, giggling away to what just happened.

 _"_ _How did you even get up there?"_ The AI queried, while the girl was picking up one of the balls.

"Just…. Follow the catwalks, hope for the best. That's how it usually works." The test subject answered, while finding out that the balls don't bounce without the gel.

 _"_ _I really should've destroyed those after the first…. incident."_

"Wouldn't do that now, otherwise you'd have to carry me in a lift the whole day."

 _"_ _Isn't that exactly what I do?"_

"…Maybe."

 _"_ _I'll help you there. The correct answer is 'Yes'. Anyway, let's see what's next on the list…."_

The sound of pages being flipped could be heard from the PA system.

 _"_ _There. You are going to fix the mess you've made."_

"What mess? You mean the balls?"

 _"_ _Edgeless safety cubes."_

"Alright, 'edgeless safety cubes', do I have to incinerate them, or something?"

 _"_ _That's just the start."_

"…What?"

 _"_ _There is repulsion gel sprayed all over the facility, using an unauthorised portal device, and one of the repulsion gel pipelines is leaking."_

"Come on, you can fix that yourself, right?"

 _"_ _Cleaning up the repulsion gel you so_ generously _sprayed every five feet, I cannot do. My control of the manufacturing wing is… limited, so fixing the gel pipe is out of the question. The only thing I can do?"_

A claw came zipping down from the ceiling.

 _"_ _Hand me the portal device."_

"That's the easiest task on the list."

 _"_ _Do you want to go do it yourself?"_

The claw lifted up a bit, as to emphasise her point.

"No! Take it!"

The AI let out a small chuckle, and accepted the portal gun.

 _"_ _Now go do what's left."_

An elevator arose out of the floor.

"Actually, can I have that gun back? The trip will take half as long without it."

 _"_ _Well, where's the fun in that?"_

The girl frowned. "Really?"

 _"_ _Do I have to repeat it?"_

"…Fine." She stepped into the elevator, which closed immediately.

"Good luck. You'll need it."

(-)-(-)

After having disabled the emergency gel output on the repulsion gel, the test subject exited the manufacturing wing via a lift.

After the elevator dropped her off in the Central AI Chamber, the AI spoke.

 _"_ _Now for the second part. Cleaning up the gel. As I'm sure you've noticed, this task will be impossible without a portal device."_

"Just give me one already."

On the right side of the circular room, panels moved out of the way, to reveal a portal gun on a pedestal. Next to it, an orange portal in the floor opened, and clear water started flowing.

The girl had been thirsty for a pretty long time now, and the view of clear water only made her _more_ longing to it.

Before she realised what was going on, the test subject found herself hanging under the stream of water, drinking as much as she could.

After a second or two, the stream stopped flowing.

 _"_ _What makes you think that a fluid capable of clearing liquid moon rocks off of a surface is good to drink?"_

The girl immediately spat out whatever she had in her mouth, wide eyed. After coughing a bit, she responded.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Another cough.

 _"_ _Did you know you run sixteen percent faster when hungry? Me neither. I witnessed it for the first time, just now."_

"Just shut up and help me! How exactly is this going to affect me?"

 _"_ _Well, where to start… Kidney failure, dissolving stomach… It gets worse overtime."_

"Well, that's good to know!"

 _"_ _You asked."_

"I-…. Jus-… Don't just hang there! Help me!"

 _"_ _Now_ how _would I do that? If your meaty digits would fit inside your mouth, you might be able to make yourself throw up."_

The test subject responded by immediately sticking one of her fingers in her mouth, desperately trying to make herself puke.

Eventually, it worked, and clear liquid, along with remains of bread and 'beans' came flowing out. The AI recorded every second of it. For science, of course.

"I'll have you know, I won't get started with an empty stomach."

 _"_ _I'll go get some bread then."_

Behind the girl, panels opened up, revealing a hallway.

 _"_ _You know where to find it."_

"You know what to do now."

 _"_ _Do you really feel the need to waste food?"_

"Yes."

 **Transference complete.**

 _"_ _Just remember I'll waste away you're precious food, I'm sure you'll change your mind."_

"When have I ever?"

 _"…_ _You are too stubborn for my liking."_

"And that's why I like it."

(-)-(-)

After having eaten an entire meal and having cleaned up all the gel in her path, the girl headed back to the Central AI Chamber.

 _"_ _Are you done yet, or are you here for another meal?"_

"Yes… I'm done…" The test subject said, tiredly.

 _"_ _I see you're too tired to engage in flipping pages for another two hours. I'll call a lift to your 'room'."_

"Good, please do." The human yawned.

The elevator ascended out of the floor again, and the girl stepped in, closing her eyes and leaning against the back.

When the elevator opened up again, so did the test subject's eyes. What she didn't expect to see, though, was a turret right in front of her.

It pointed it's laser right at her forehead. They hadn't done that before. Most of the time they aim it right at her chest. The girl pressed her eyes shut, crawling to the back of the small lift car in an attempt to hide herself.

What the small turret actually did, was… unexpected, to say the least.

 _"_ _Goodnight."_ Its high-pitched, child-like voice somehow sounding soothing to her, especially with what it just said.

The test subject slowly opened her eyes again, and visibly relaxed. The turret's focus looked down to her chest for a split second, then moved up to her head again.

A smile crept up on her face. She patted the little turret on its 'head', and made her way to her bedroom.

 _Never knew a turret could be so cute,_ she thought to herself, and promptly fell asleep.


	25. Chapter 25, The Talk

**[A/N]**

 **I'm back! I went away for a week. If this chapter seems a bit off, I started it last week, and finished it after. Maybe I'll go back and redo it in the future. I'll try to get back on track with this story.**

 **Anyway, this is what you were here for:**

* * *

It was early in the morning. Or, more accurately, it _felt_ like early morning. The lights behind the closed shutters dimmed according to the user's status, so those weren't accurate.

As Chell got used to pretty quickly after her return, as soon as she woke up, she tried her best to stay still. She knew there was no point in pretending to be asleep, since the supercomputer used heat sensitive cameras. But, as always, the girl was stubborn, and kept on trying.

 _"_ _You should know by now that there is no point in pretending you're asleep."_

"Just give me… five more minutes." The test subject croaked, tiredly.

 _"_ _Lack of appropriate exercise can lead to: various chronic diseases, joint pain, muscle twitching…"_

The girl groaned. "Fine. I'm on my way, but breakfast better be ready."

 _"…_ _Apparent 'generousness', and… Oh. You really_ are _coming."_

The test subject just sighed as a response. Living with an AI proved difficult sometimes.

As soon as she arrived, she was greeted with something… peculiar.

 _"…_ _Honestly, I didn't think you would be here this quickly, dragging around all your-"_

"I get it, I get it. Also, I'm pretty sure your android body was based on…" The girl pointed at herself.

 _"_ _Some adjustments did have to be made, but for the lack of a better model to work off of, yes."_

"I knew it. Also, what is going on here?"

The android stood on top of her chassis, which was surprisingly still on. Both the android and the huge ceiling robot were connected. The girl also noted that when she spoke, the chassis moved accordingly.

 _"_ _Just fixing something."_

"Fixing what?"

 _"_ _You wouldn't understand."_

"Whatever."

The android clicked the long-fall braces on her legs into position, and attempted to jump off. What she didn't expect, though, was the chassis trying to do the exact same.

Much like the girl being launched off into old Aperture that first day, the android was thrown off the chassis, and landed right in front of the test subject.

The android fully expected to land flat on her face, but before she hit the ground, she felt something holding her.

The test subject had caught her.

The android looked up, with a surprised look on her synthetic face. There was an awkward silence, which the AI filled soon after.

 _"_ _Let's have breakfast then."_

"I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

After breakfast, as well as a bit of testing, the pair went on doing probably the most tedious task the AI could've come up with. Flipping pages. Again.

"Are we going to have to do this all day?"

 _"_ _I don't think clarification is required."_

The test subject only groaned at this, knowing she didn't have much else to do, anyway. And besides, she was dependent on her, not the other way around.

They had been at this for hours. The girl eventually tried to make life easier for her; she tried flipping the page with her foot _(Are seriously_ that _brain damaged, or just generally brain damaged?)_ , she tried blowing the page over whilst laying down, but eventually settled on just flipping the page with her fingers.

At some point, the pair started having casual conversations, filling the silence, and keeping the test subject from promptly falling asleep on the floor.

 _"_ _So what exactly happened to humanity while I was… well, you know."_

The human responded in a slightly shaky voice. "Well… We got wiped out, and-"

 _"_ _You survived."_

"That's beside the point." The girl responded, slightly more forcefully.

 _"_ _Alright then, go on."_

"…Yes, we got wiped out, by… by Aperture."

 _"_ _It was an act of desperation. Besides, genetic material had been saved."_

"You know what he meant with 'genetic material', right?"

 _"_ _Let's not go there."_

"Agreed. So, what happened, was, atomic bombs. They, they were dropped from the satellite-things, and-"

 _"_ _Aperture Science Military Grade Tactical Satellites."_

"Will you stop interrupting me?"

 _"_ _I figured that was all there was to know."_

"Nope. As I was trying to say, humanity died, but not everything went along with us. Some species survived, for what that's worth. I fought a wolf out there! A tasty one, too."

 _"_ _Are you able to stop thinking about food?"_

"I was starving!"

 _"_ _Sure."_

After that, the girl didn't say anything for a while. To the AI, it seemed like she suddenly had great interest in the floor beneath her. She didn't mind, as long as the pages were being flipped.

It was only after ten minutes or so that she realised something was wrong. The test subject wasn't just extraordinarily interested in the floor panels.

She was crying.


	26. Chapter 26, The Protest

**[A/N]**

 **First of all: I'm sorry if these last chapters are a bit on the boring side, couldn't think of much else to write. I'll try to spice things up though!**

 **Also,** ** _The Ember_** **pointed something out about the coop campaign, and, SPOILER ALERT! They find a whole wing of test subjects. My explanation is that the bots are still in the testing tracks, AKA in the middle of their respective storyline. Thank you for pointing that out, I will include this in the story later!**

 **Anyway, this A/N is getting way too long, so I'll end it here; reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The AI was stuck. It's not like she hadn't _seen_ a human cry before, there had been plenty on the testing tracks. It's not like she didn't know what it meant, it usually meant the same thing; pain, or agony.

What she didn't know, however, is how to deal with it… _without_ killing them.

Usually the solution was simple. A human was stuck on one of the testing tracks, usually with a few broken bones, crying in the corner. What she would do then? Fill the room with neurotoxin, bring in the next test subject on the list.

This was different. She couldn't just kill the woman, she was the first to _voluntarily_ participate in the tests. Besides, she was the single _best_ test subject she ever encountered, too.

The test subject was simply too valuable to give up.

What should she do now?

The first thing that came into the supercomputer's mind, was the first thing she always did; behaving indifferently. This always worked before, why wouldn't it now?

 _"_ _Why are you doing whatever you think you are doing?"_

There. That should help.

The only reaction the girl showed, was stopping flipping the pages entirely. _Well done._ The AI thought to herself. _What, is your passive aggressive processor turning against you now? Yes._

Dang. Time for a different approach.

The panel lifted up the panel about five feet, and made eye contact with the test subject. It was clear that more than a few tears had already ran across her cheeks in the last minutes, despite remaining silent.

 _"_ _What is it? What's wrong?"_

The girl's facial expression turned into one of surprise. The AI had never cared about her like this before.

"My entire species is dead."

 _"_ _So? I am alone all the time, what's wrong with that?"_

"Passive aggressive remarks about the greatest loss since I can remember? You're doing a great job at depressing me, if that was your goal."

This wasn't news to the AI. Some of the test subjects that _could_ talk had given their opinion on this more than she cared to admit. More sarcastic remarks usually followed after that, and sometimes a tinge of neurotoxin for good measure.

Negative reinforcement really did help most of the time. This was different. She didn't have much experience on this part, so she had to improvise. Endless list containing remarks about people's weight? Not of use now. That _was_ new.

 _"_ _I can't help you with that."_

"One word; the tape."

 _"_ _The only reason I will bring back your species is for testing, I thought we had established that."_

"Let's see about that."

The girl simply stood up, and walked away. The oh-so-familiar determined face could be seen through her cameras. No turning back now.

* * *

The following months were a bit… _unusual._

When it was time to get up and test, the girl stayed in her bed for a few hours. At first the AI kept breaking her rooms, but soon learned it made no difference, and let her stay.

When she _did_ get up, the test subject simply refused to test. She just sat in a corner somewhere, reading a random file she found to pass the time.

At first, the AI tried to stimulate her. When she filled up the room with neurotoxin, the girl just sat there. Not budging.

"Sure, kill me. You need me. I know you do."

 _"_ _I still have the cooperative testing initiative. They should do."_

"You know they won't."

The pair would just glare at each other, until finally the neurotoxin would be cut off. The girl would go back to reading, and the AI was stuck in the loop again.

Even though the supercomputer thought, _wished_ that the test subject would stop after a few weeks, tops, she didn't stop. She just sat there, reading. All day long. Not even nagging her to come along to eat. Emotionless.

Sometimes the AI would force her into the lift using her panels, but she wouldn't get out. She just stayed there, until the lift went back up. Sometimes it took hours, but the girl didn't mind.

And the test subject was right. She _needed_ her. The bots didn't always suffice; sure, for a few weeks, but after that; they became… boring. They were programmed by her, after all. Doing exactly what they were programmed to do.

This was different in humans. They sometimes went against all odds, doing random stuff every now and again. It was why they were so valuable for testing.

Eventually, even though the AI didn't want to admit it, gave in.

"Will you promise not to enslave us?"

 _"_ _NO! I won't. Just get on with it, and I'll get what you want!"_

"Good. Then I will."

And with that, the test subject stepped into the lift, and began testing again.


	27. Chapter 27, The Plan

When the girl stepped into her first test chamber in months, she sensed something was off. It took her a good minute or two to realise that there was no sarcastic remark over the intercom.

Actually, nothing could be heard over the speakers.

The test subject grinned at the thought of GLaDOS metaphorically sweating in her chamber, hoping she'd actually finish the test this time.

The girl finished the chamber quickly, and was weirdly relieved to find that the AI had gathered up the courage to speak again.

 _"Well. You actually finished the test. I'll have you know I already had the cooperative testing initiative ready, just in case."_

"As long as you keep your promises."

The following tests went as usual, the only difference being the fact that no passive aggressive remarks made their way through the intercom. It did feel nice not to be insulted every six seconds for a change.

Nine chambers later the test subject got transported over to the Central AI Chamber, where a few things were set up.

Upon her arrival, one of the floor panels lifted up, twisted around for a bit until settling its single light on the human, and bent invitingly forward.

 _"Have a seat."_

The girl sat down onto the panel, and watched a few panels move out the way to reveal an abnormally large monitor.

 _"I had a few of the Aperture Science Military Grade Tactical Satellites scan the area around the facility."_

On the monitor, a wireframe-themed map showed up, with a few glowing dots showing up, and a line connecting them.

 _"This is our location."_

The gold-coloured dot on the map was given a label;

 **APERTURE SCIENCE - TESTING FACILITY**

 _"And this, is where you need to go."_

The brown dot on the map now showed a label, too;

 **BIN-NUMB/RESIDENCE#** **1130460773**

 _"Huh. That's funny."_

"What is?"

The screen switched to various different calculators and convertors.

 _"I have seen that number before."_

"Is that important?"

 _"I'm working it out."_

The number was changed into a bunch of ones and zeros. The girl was confused now; whatever this was, it probably wasn't important.

"Just forget it! You can work it out later! How am I going to get there?"

The screen quickly switched back to the map.

 _"How do you think?"_

"I don't know… some weird hovercraft or something? Surely you should have something." The girl said, still facing the screen.

Said screen then switched to a cycle of futuristic-looking vehicles.

 _"There are a lot of Aperture-made hovercrafts. On paper. It'll take days to set up an assembly."_

"Hold on; can't you just send in those robots?"

 _"The cooperative testing initiative? Easily distracted, frightened of anything that moves, and explode when something hits them too hard. Simply put, unqualified for a task like this."_

The girl took a moment to convert whatever she just heard into English.

"…Alright. I guess I'll be walking then."

The test subject stood up, and attempted to lean on the raised panel. Before she could, however, the panel quickly retracted back into the floor, and the girl fell flat on her face.

The AI chuckled, which earned her a glare from the test subject. She quickly got up again.

A lift raised up from the floor.

"You're forgetting something."

 _"You just had lunch."_

"Ha. Ha. What I mean is, come with me."

 _"Seriously?"_

"If you expected me to do all the hard work, that's just disappointing. Besides, if I encounter another wolf, what am I going to do? Beat it with a stick?"

 _"I presume that's what you did last time."_

The girl thought back to what happened all those months ago. Her thoughts drifted off to her broken bit of Companion Cube, now resting on her nightstand in her fifth room so far.

"You're a lot stronger, I presume."

 _"I am_ designed _to be stronger."_

"Go on then!"

 **Transference complete.**

 _"Sure."_

The android undid the connection from her neck to the receptacle, and took a sprint to the lift. Before the test subject could protest (The android was surprisingly fast), it jumped into the lift, pushed a button, and waved unceremoniously as the elevator ascended up into the ceiling.

The girl stood there, confused. After a few seconds, another lift car came from the floor. She just shrugged, and stepped inside.

Let's do this.

 **[A/N]**

 **Alright, I'm going to try something out here; there's a little Easter Egg hidden somewhere in the chapter. The first person to decipher it and write it in a review, wins… umm. I'll get back to you on that…**

 **Anyway, maybe I'll leave some more Easter Eggs in the next chapters, if I do, I'll leave it in an Author's Note like here, just so you know.**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy… the next chapter, when it comes out. Onto the next chapter!**


	28. Chapter 28, The Car

**[A/N]**

 **Short chapter is short. Anyway, the chapters are finally becoming a bit more exciting! Hurray!**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The elevator ride was slow. Halfway through, the android's lift car had to come down and leave the shaft, which meant hers had to descend down too. When the girl finally arrived, she expected the android to already be a miles ahead, but that wasn't the case.

They were in the employee's parking space again, and a few feet ahead of her, was the android. Digging around inside a car.

The hood of one of the more robust looking cars was open, with the android practically inside its engine.

"What are you doing?"

The android lifted its upper body out of the engine, and turned to face her. Her arm, she noticed, was looking a bit… peculiar.

 _"_ _Fixing the engine."_

The android hefted her right arm, and into the car's engine. The test subject slowly approached the android, which now had one of her optics a centimetre out, presumably focusing on something.

The girl immediately stepped back again, as blue sparks went flying out the hood, along with a gentle sizzling sound.

"Whoa!"

 _"_ _It's safe, as long as you don't come too close."_

"…Okay. What's with the arm?"

The android lifted her right arm again, and without saying a word, transformed it again.

Small panels slid into place, mechanics retracted, and long digits assembled themselves, until forming a normal-looking arm.

Her fingers dabbed one by one, in a wave.

"You really _are_ a Swiss army knife.", the girl said, still studying the arm.

Suddenly, said arm opened at the front, revealing a rather sharp sword-like object. It came out the slightest bit, until sliding forward.

 _"_ _Don't call me that. That's… well, we're going to need a robot form of racism."_

"Just continue… whatever you're doing, with, the engine."

The arm took the form of a welder again, and the android quickly continued her task.

* * *

Some spot-welding, rewiring , and other voodoo later, the android got the car into a good enough state to work.

 _"_ _You know why I picked this one?"_

"…umm, it looks cool?"

 _"_ _It's electric."_

The AI lifted her shirt a bit, exposing a small panel in her side. She clicked it open, revealing something along the lines of a power plug. It came out with a zipping sound, just like the core transfer receptacle's, and the android connected herself with the cars input.

The android then began making a noise similar to that of a vacuum cleaner, sucking up as much air as she could through her nasal systems. It wasn't nearly as loud as a vacuum cleaner, just barely loud enough to be annoying.

 _"_ _I generate electricity using oxygen. To generate sufficient electricity for this.. thing, this nuisance is required."_ Even though the supercomputer had to speak louder, her voice didn't sound different. Just like you'd expect from increasing the volume of a speaker.

 _"_ _And since we don't have all day to wait for this thing to fill up, as much as I hate to say it… you're going to have to drive."_

"Yes!"

The human jumped up in triumph, then quickly proceeded to the driver's seat.

"Aren't you going to come in?"

The android tugged at the cable.

 _"_ _This isn't long enough. That's why you're currently in the driver's seat."_

"Actually, now that I think of it, aren't we going to need a key?"

 _"_ _Hotwired it."_

"…Ah."

 _"_ _I'll give you directions."_ The android said, laying a hand on the side of her head. Her eyes decreased in brightness, as her vision was now replaced with an overlay, showing the map to the shack, along with their actual location.

And to the human's surprise, the AI pressed the button to close the window, and clamped onto the side of the car.

'Directions?' The girl mouthed.

Again, to her surprise, the radio shot on.

 _"_ _Just get out the door already."_ The supercomputers voice was muffled, but understandable.

 _"_ _And let's do this thing."_


	29. Chapter 29, The Crash

It was in the forest. The wind was gently blowing on the trees, and the grass, and the leaves. Not a sound could be perceived, except for the gentle blowing of the wind, or the birds.

There weren't many birds. There weren't many animals at all. All the more peaceful. All the more… silent.

But the quiet ended.

A big, brown car came soaring over the road. It didn't make much noise either, except from the gentle humming of its electric motor.

Hanging on its side, an android. A steady noise came from the pale figure, along with the occasional directions.

Inside the car, a woman. A human woman. She was stressed, sweat trickling down her head. She couldn't remember how she knew how to drive, but somehow did so flawlessly. Not knowing how you know something _and_ actually doing it doesn't go hand in hand, apparently.

 _"_ _Hard right."_

"I can't go _through_ the trees, you know!"

 _"_ _Then avoid them."_

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm not a rob-"

They came to an abrupt stop, as the front of their car made contact with a rather unfortunately placed tree. The android was thrown of the side of the car, optics suddenly glowing bright.

The long-fall braces were snapped of her ankles, clicked into position, and the android landed gracefully on the ground. She slid forward a bit, then stopped and turned around to face the human, now in pain.

She took a sprint towards the car. She missed the door handle twice before correctly opening the door, and jumped inside.

 _"_ _What have you done?"_

"My- My foot…" the girl stammered.

The AI quickly grabbed hold of the test subject's foot, and did an examination. Both of her temples opened up, to reveal two, dark, see-through panels, vaguely resembling that of sunglasses, before they were shoved in front of her optics. They snapped together like magnets, and the android began scanning.

Why would an android have X-ray vision, you ask? Why in the world not?

After finding the girl's ankle wasn't broken, just bruised, she lifted her out of the car.

 _"_ _It's not broken."_

"What's with the- the sunglasses?"

 _"_ _X-ray."_ The android said, while retracting them back into the sides of her head. _"Now I need to check on the car."_

"…Thanks?"

After finding out the car wasn't going to explode, the android turned back to the test subject, who was still leaning back on a nearby tree.

 _"_ _The car's fine, so we have that."_

"Yeah, I'm sure that's top priority right now…"

 _"_ _Shut up. Can you walk?"_

"I think that should be pretty clear."

 _"_ _I can ask. How are we going to get back?"_

"No. We are not going back now!"

 _"_ _I'd have to carry you."_ , the android said, jokingly. The girl, however, had other plans.

"Indeed."

 _"_ _What? I'm not_ actually _going to carry you!"_

"What, you're not strong enough? I should've known." The test subject snapped back, grinning, despite her injuries.

What she didn't expect, was the android throwing her up into the air a couple feet, then catching her.

 _"_ _What was that?"_

"So you _are_ carrying me then."

The android snorted. _"As if I have a choice."_

And with that, they began their trip.

* * *

The android was _fast._ It ran steadily across the forest, not missing a beat. Avoiding branches, and everything that could get in their way. When the small wooden cabin finally came into view, the android ran faster just the slightest bit.

"There it is! I see it!"

 _"_ _So do I. Say, how did you get in?"_

The android said, the cabin coming closer every second.

"Through the window."

 _"_ _The window?"_

"Yes."

 _"_ _Correct."_

"Wha-"

The android jumped up, twisting in the air until her back was facing the window. She then extended her long-fall braces again, and jumped backwards, the human still tight in her arms.

Time slowed as the android, without giving a reaction, blasted right through the small window. Glass catapulted into the room everywhere, while the android landed on her back, onto the floor, not even flinching along the way.

The pair just laid there for what seemed like forever. To the girl, anyway. The unblinking eyes of the AI simply staring at the panting girl now on top of her, taking in what just happened.

When the test subject finally caught her breath, she immediately stood up, the android following right after.

"That was… I was.. right on top of you."

 _"_ _Let's not go down that street."_

"Yeah. Also, did you _have_ to bust through the window?"

The android simply shrugged. _"Why not?"_

Another minute passed.

 _"_ _Now where did you find that tape?"_

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **If you think the X-ray thing is a bit far-fetched, even I'm sceptical about it. I know that it might annoy some people, and I don't blame you if you are. I might go back and change it, but that all depends on what you people think of it.**

 **Anyway, onto the next epic-sode!**


	30. Chapter 30, The Genetic Material

**[A/N]**

 **Some major questions you people have been asking in the reviews since ten chapters beforehand, will be answered in the chapters soon to come!  
Anyway, reviews are ****_greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The pair were in the small, wooden cabin.

 _"_ _Now where did you find that tape?"_

The girl pointed to the hatch in the corner of the floor.

"In there! It is a bit heavy, though."

The android snorted, and practically lifted the hatch out of its hinges like it was made of paper.

"…Okay."

The AI simply dropped down the hole, while the test subject descended by ladder soon after. The android stopped in her tracks upon seeing the bed. Her interface was telling her that the man occupying the bed, was no other than Cave Johnson himself.

 _"_ _Wha-"_

"Yes, I know… That's Cave."

 _"_ _I knew he was dead, I just didn't expect him down here."_ The AI responded quickly.

After that, the android approached the old, cracked TV, with the box of tapes under it. She crouched to see the tapes, until finding one that stood out.

She inserted the tape into the big TV, before turning around upon hearing the human speak again.

"Can't you just… scan it, or something?"

 _"_ _Please. Do you honestly believe I built a VHS reader into this body?"_ The android said, pointing at her android body.

"I don't know, you have a welder."

When the TV finally turned on, the AI squirmed, covering her audial sensors.

 _"_ _Turn it off!"_

The test subject hastily stepped towards the TV, struggling for a second to find the button, then switched it off with a _snap_.

 _"_ _Okay. That's weird."_

"What is?"

 _"_ _That…_ thing _makes a high frequency noise above human hearing. It's extraordinarily annoying."_

"I didn't know computers could be annoyed."

 _"_ _They can also cause symptoms like eye damage when loud enough."_

"…No thanks."

 _"_ _That's what I thought. We'll bring this back to the facility, I'll 'scan' it there."_

"You _do_ have one there?"

 _"_ _What makes you think I don't?"_

"Let's just go back."

* * *

After their quick trip back to the car, the android tried to start it again. No response.

 _"_ _What…?"_

"What's wrong?"

 _"_ _The energy input is broken. As well as some other key components. Just look underneath it."_

The girl crouched underneath the car, only to find something leaking from the underside of the car.

 _"_ _It's leaking cooling fluid."_

"Ah."

 _"_ _We'll have to walk."_

"You know I can't walk properly yet!"

 _"_ _I know… I'll have to carry you, again."_

"The sooner we get started, the sooner we'll-"

The girl was interrupted by the AI picking her up again, in one smooth movement.

 _"_ _Let's just go."_

And the android ran straight back to Aperture.

* * *

Back in the facility, the AI went straight back into her respective chassis.

"Where's the tape?"

 _"_ _I'm stripping off all the data."_

"Alright. Is there anything to eat?"

 _"_ _Really?"_

"You don't know what it feels like to be hungry. If you did, you'd understand."

 _"_ _Sure."_

"Just… is there anything?"

 _"_ _There's the 'beans', as you like to call them."_

"Ugh. I'll go. But there better be bread tomorrow."

 _"_ _As always."_ The android said, before closing the gate behind the test subject.

She went on studying the tape. A few seconds later, she found the frame in which the code was clearly visible. She knew Aperture liked to go overkill on loads of things, but she never expected Egyptian characters in a passcode.

After downloading an Egyptian language file, she copied over the code into her terminal.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Initiating  
[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Please wait…  
[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Call Finished (0.e0003 seconds)_

In her internal interface, a schematic of her ceiling-mounted body showed up, with one long, highlighted object. _In her core._

If GLaDOS could blush in this chassis, she would've resembled a ketchup bottle. _All this time,_ she thought ashamedly, _It's been in… ugh._

She researched genetic material before, and had already concluded that… this type of genetic material, should be kept in a warm location. Obviously, Cave wanted it somewhere safe, the safest location in Aperture. That apparently being her very own core, was a bit weird to think about.

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Initiate extraction? (Y/N);_

 _[AS/Administrator/CentralCore/GLaDOS]: Y_

 **Initiating 'Genetic Material' Extraction.**

The announcers annoyingly cheery voice came blaring over the intercom.

 _That thing never shuts up,_ the AI thought, _Test_Subject#0e01 probably even heard that.._

Just like in the core transfer she always feared, the vertical panels lifted up out of the circular patch in the ceiling, and began disassembling her core to a certain extent.

As much as the AI tried to remain completely silent, she couldn't help but let out more than a few yelps. _Test_Subject#0e01 must've heard this. Try not to be awkward._

As if on cue, the girl came storming into the Chamber.

"What's happening!"

No answer. The supercomputer was simply too busy with… well, being disassembled.

 **'** **Genetic Material' Extraction complete.**

The announcer spoke again, and the vertical panels lowered again. GLaDOS' chassis raised a bit, and took a look at whatever's been extracted from her headpiece.

A small, transparent test-tube was fitted in one of the mechanical arms below her.

The AI turned to face the test subject, now almost smiling.

"What just happened."


	31. Chapter 31, Compatibility

**[A/N]**

 **Sorry, forgot to upload this chapter when I finished it. Here it is!**

 **Anyway, reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _"_ _I'm afraid you might not like the answer to that question."_

The AI answered, as mischievously as ever.

"What do you mean by that?"

 _"_ _I think you know what I mean."_

"I hope not."

 _"_ _If you so desperately want to… start the human race again, you'll have to start."_

The arm holding the test tube of 'material' moved forward, towards the test subject.

"I am _not_ going to do that! There has to be another way! Besides…"

The girl said, while pushing back the robotic arm.

"…What if this doesn't work? Who knows what happened to it!"

 _"_ _You're right. After you put me into the potato, we can't be sure of what happened to it."_

"See?"

The AI took the arm back into the floor, and started an in-depth analysis.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have dinner to eat."

 _"_ _Don't eat too much."_

"We'll see about that!" The girl almost shouted, walking out the door.

 _"_ _Sure. I'll be doing the hard work. Again."_

The panels closed behind her.

* * *

Even when at work, the AI liked to upset the human. After all, she was the best at it; she'd been doing it for months now.

So when the test subject went to heat up another can of food, the supercomputer disabled the socket it was attached to. She watched the now frustrated girl push the buttons of the tiny microwave over and over again, until she faced the camera in the corner of the room.

"Really?"

 _"_ _What are you talking about?"_ The AI responded, as innocently as she could manage.

"Ugh." With that, the test subject moved the plug to the next socket, and tried again.

To frustrate the girl even more, she let the microwave do its thing for about seven seconds, before shutting it off again.

"Just stop already!"

 _"_ _I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."_

"Either you make this thing work again, or I'll find a way to heat this can with your core!"

 _"_ _Well. Let's see…"_ high, cheery _beeps_ sounded over the intercom. _"Found it. Looks like I_ accidentally _disabled the mains systems. How silly of me. Wait, I'll turn them back on."_

The microwave turned on again. The girl shot a glare at the camera, before taking the can out, and continuing her eating.

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was in her chamber, practically laughing out loud.

* * *

When the test subject (finally, as GLaDOS would say) arrived back at the Central AI Chamber, the AI herself immediately began speaking.

 _"_ _Oh good, you're back. I have finished the first part of the analysis. Now it's your turn."_

"You're the near omnipotent supercomputer in the room, you should be the one doing the analysis."

 _"_ _You're getting it wrong. I need to check compatibility."_

"…What?"

 _"_ _I'll need your blood.",_ the AI said, excitedly.

With that, the girl stepped back, shocked.

"I thought we were done killing each other!"

 _"_ _Please. I don't kill helpless orphans."_

The test subject shot another glare at the AI, which only seemed to get more excited.

"Then what are you-"

 _"_ _I'll just need a little sample."_ An elevator popped out of the floor. _"This will take you straight to the infirmary. Speak to you then."_

The girl stepped hesitantly into the lift, which, as always, immediately began moving. Somehow, the trip seemed more scary at the foresight of her blood being involved. Looks like the AI left a bigger mental mark than she initially thought.

When the elevator arrived at the infirmary (which seemed to take forever), there was a sort of hospital bed ready a few feet away.

"You only needed a blood sample, right?"

 _"_ _Yes, why?"_

"Why is there a bed with two lethal-looking arms in front of me?"

 _"_ _Just sit down."_

She did as she was told. One of the robotic arms located on each side of the bed started moving, making the test subject flinch. It quickly grabbed hold of her forearm, which didn't exactly calm her down.

"What are you doing?"

 _"_ _What does it look like I'm doing?"_

"Making another murder attempt, what else?"

 _"_ _As has been told, I'm only taking a blood sample. You're not_ that _brain damaged, are you?"_

The AI said, indifferently, while a small needle pas penetrating the girl's skin. Said girl could feel her hand tingle, as blood was being extracted at a fast rate.

When the robotic arm finally let go of hers, the test subject pulled it back, and stood up. She quickly remembered that standing up too fast wasn't helping her bruised ankle, and sat back down, staring at her arm.

A few minutes later, when her arm stopped tingling, she spoke again.

"You could've just warned me!"

 _"_ _Now, where's the fun in that?"_

"It's not fun for me!"

 _"_ _That's_ exactly _why it's fun."_

"If you weren't a computer, I'd say _you_ were brain damaged."

 _"_ _Corrupted."_

"Corrupted. Actually, isn't that what the announcer said?"

Silence.

 _"_ _Just get back to eating, or whatever it is you do when you're_ not _eating."_

The lift promptly opened.

"Did I just get you speechless?"

 _"_ _I am still speaking. Now get in the lift."_

"What if I don't want to?"

Suddenly, every single of the robotic arms mounted on every bed activated, revealing little sharp needles and other painful-looking machinery.

"…I'll go!"

 _"_ _That's what I thought. I'll go do my part."_

"I'll be in my room. _Don't spy on me!_ "

 _"_ _Oh, I wouldn't dare."_

The test subject rolled her eyes, and stepped into the now very inviting elevator.

* * *

As always, when the elevator doors opened, the familiar turret stood there.

 _"_ _Goodnight."_

The girl smiled, and gave it a friendly pat, like she did every time. Normally, she was scared out of her mind when she saw a turret, but this _one_ friendly turret, helped her get over it.

Of course, in the testing tracks, they still shot regular bullets, but outside the testing tracks? They recognised her, and wouldn't shoot. And that, was an awesome feeling in her book.

She went back into her room, and quickly fell asleep after that.


	32. Chapter 32, Realisation

**[A/N]**

 **Now, this is where it gets** ** _really_** **exciting. Post your theories now, people! Now's the chance!**

 **Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and, well, I'm pretty sure you're going to enjoy this one.**

* * *

The girl slowly woke. She was always confused at that stage. The more awake she was, the brighter the lights shined. The brighter the lights shined, the faster she woke up.

Thus, it only took minutes before the test subject sleepily opened her eyes.

 **Good morning. You have been in suspension for; -50- days.**

The girl immediately shot up. Was this a dream? She pinched her forearm, and mild pain shot through it. No. Definitely not a dream. She started looking for other signs.

Whilst the announcer rattled on about mandatory physical and mental exercises, the test subject started looking around, until it hit her.

No sarcastic remarks over the intercom.

Change of plans; it _had_ to be a dream. She was afraid now, to return to the bed. If this was truly a memory, she knew what was going to happen next.

If she was going to return to the bed, she'd wake up in a deserted room, and-

Wait a second. She started in surprise at the little round object on her nightstand. Her companion bit.

She searched around the room frantically, determined to find some sort of camera to shot a glare to. This wasn't a dream. _It couldn't be._

A slow, dark chuckle could be heard of the intercom.

The test subject now wore a frown, waiting for an explanation.

 _"_ _What?"_

"Why?", she croaked.

A muffled, slightly distorted recording now played.

 **"** **You just got pranked."**

The girl's own voice, on the day she'd pranked the AI with edgeless cubes and gel. The girl smiled now, remembering that day.

 _"_ _On the plus side, you're awake."_

An annoyed huff. "Can the testing wait?"

 _"_ _I already put it on hold. I have something to tell you first."_

That caught the test subject off-guard. In all the months she'd been here, _this_ never happened. What had she broken? The microwave?

She put her boots on, and made her way to the elevator, waiting outside her room. She never rarely her jumpsuit off, knowing the AI would be spying on her, whatever the case.

Sure, they were both women, but in the AIs case, _were_ was the keyword here.

When she arrived at the Central AI Chamber, she was greeted with the android, seated on top of her chassis. She'd apparently built some kind of 'throne' on top of it, covering up a big part of the machinery.

The android jumped off it upon her arrival, and when she did, the white 'throne' folded back into the chassis.

The girl appeared to have a hard time closing her mouth back up, so the android helped her a bit. By smacking it closed.

"Ow! What's with the throne?"

 _"_ _I thought I'd make a permanent place for this body. Well, apart from the machine storage area, of course."_

"Right. Is this what you wanted to tell me?"

 _"_ _You're wrong. After scanning your blood, multiple times, I might add, I have concluded something even_ I _have a hard time coming to terms with."_

"..Okay," the girl said, slowly, "What is it, exactly?"

 _"_ _You're related to him."_

"Cave?"

 _"_ _Correct."_

The test subject sat down onto the floor, which came up to catch her.

"I'm…"

 _"_ _You could be anyone in his family tree."_

"No, no. Have you seen the tape? He had a daughter. A _single_ daughter. You can probably guess who that is."

 _"_ _You."_

"That's my best guess."

The pair stayed silent for a while.

"But then there _is_ a problem."

 _"_ _Inbreeding."_

"Indeed. Inbreeding."

 _"_ _The main cause of deformations among offspring."_

"I know, I know. Now what are we going to do?"

 _"_ _There is one solution."_

The test subject immediately piped up.

"What is it?"

 _"_ _Every advanced Aperture AI is allocated a digital string of virtual DNA, an experiment among the former scientists."_

"Which means?"

The panels in the upper side of the chamber moved out of the way, revealing the familiar monitor. It showed two strings of DNA, side-by-side.

 _"_ _Every string of DNA has a_ disturbing _amount of deformations. Usually, the two strands of DNA given from each parent patch each other up, resulting in a healthy human being."_

"…Right. I understand. But what does this have to do with-"

 _"_ _Hush. If the two strands of DNA are almost identical, as seen in close family members, little to no impurities are cancelled out, resulting in deformed offspring."_

"That… makes a surprising amount of sense."

 _"_ _It's_ science. _What did you expect? Now, if_ somehow _we could take an Aperture AIs digital DNA, and recreate it in a format that is accepted by the human body, we could patch up the…_ Genetic material. _"_

"Right. That shouldn't be a problem, given all the corrupted cores you have lying around! Right?"

 _"_ _As always, you're wrong."_

The human made a confused face, waiting for an explanation.

 _"_ _When an Aperture AI corrupts, which describes every single one of them apart from me, or the announcer, the DNA adapts along with it, essentially corrupting it in the process."_

The girl now stayed silent, foreseeing to be proved wrong yet _again._

 _"_ _The corrupted cores aren't an option, the announcer isn't advanced enough, and_ I, _well. I am Caroline, your apparent_ mother _figure."_

"Wait, you didn't tell me _that!_ "

 _"_ _Your DNA and my synthetic DNA match up, which is… utterly disturbing."_

"So you could say, we're… sisters?" She said, very carefully.

The android blushed, now wishing she was back in her chassis. _"I… suppose so. Again, which is_ quite _disturbing."_

"…Okay, let's change the subject."

 _"_ _Agreed."_

"How are we going to fix it? We can't just… take animal DNA, or something. Can we?"

 _"_ _Obviously not."_

Silence.

"…Well."

 _"_ _What?"_

"I see only _one_ way, but you're not going to like it."

 _"_ _Which is?"_

"I know only _one_ non-corrupt Aperture AI. Guess who…?"

 _"…_ _NO."_

"Yes! He's the only one!"

 _"...I guess we don't have a choice, then."_

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **Again, now's the time for theorizing! This might be a tiny bit seriously _cliché,_ but, what do _you_ think is going to happen? One chance only!**

 **Onto the next chapter thirty-three!**


	33. Chapter 33, Contact

**[A/N]**

 **So, some of you might be confused about GLaDOS' digital DNA matching up with Chell's, here's the explanation: Caroline and Cave are confirmed to be Chell's biological parents (Well, in this story, at least. No confirmation from Valve yet!). Caroline later got downloaded onto GLaDOS, hence her synthetic DNA being (close to) Caroline's.**

 **The craziest part? In a sense, both Chell _and_ GLaDOS are both conceived by Caroline. Scary thought, huh?**

 **Hope this makes sense!**

 **Anyway, reviews are _greatly_ appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _"I guess we don't have a choice, then."_

Silence, yet again.

"Hold on."

 _"What?"_

"Why are you being so… helpful, all of the sudden?"

 _"You made me do this in the first place."_

"No, well, yes, I did, but, you still had a choice."

 _"You're not making sense, as usual."_

"Oh, yes I am! You could've just killed me and used the coop bots!"

 _"The Cooperative Testing Inititia-"_

"I know what they're called, but, tell me; are you lonely?"

The AI didn't speak for a while, presumably calculating her chances.

 _"…Yes."_

At this, the test subject cracked a sympathetic smile.

"So _that's_ why you're doing this for me! Normally you wouldn't care if my… offspring, would be… deformed… but you do now!"

 _"I guess so."_

The android too, now sat down upon a helpfully raised panel. Quickly refocusing on the task at hand, the girl stood up and spoke.

"So how are we going to retrieve him?"

 _"The moron?"_

"Sure, call him a moron…"

 _"He almost blew you up."_

"He was nice! Until you're beloved mainframe turned him evil!"

 _"Sure. Blame it on the mainframe."_

"It doesn't matter now! If we get him out of space, and he still wants to kill me, we leave him there. Okay?"

There weren't many times in which the AI stayed silent. Sure, when she didn't speak, but she always had her words ready when needed. Almost never was she left without words, speechless.

It made no sense. Either she was truly prepared to leave the moron in space, obliterating her chance of repopulating planet earth, or… she was completely sure of the outcome.

Considering the chances, the AI guessed the latter; the girl knew _for sure_ that the moron hadn't stayed against her. It was a big risk to take, but she was known to make big risks anyway.

 _"Well. I suppose we should check on him.",_ The android spoke, mildly disgusted.

"Alright! How, exactly?"

 _"We'll use the Aperture Science Military Grade Tactical Satellites, he should be near one of them."_

"How do you know, without being connected to the mainframe?"

 _"…I kept track of him."_

"What? Why?"

 _"Simple, really. I wanted to know when he got knocked further into space, so I knew when I could start the party."_

"Seriously?"

 _"When have I not been serious?"_

"Potato…" The test subject said, under her breath.

 _"I heard that."_ The AI snapped back, a frown on her features.

"Okay, okay. Now, can we retrieve him?"

 _"Easily. The satellites come equipped with thruster rockets. We can boost over to him."_

"Alright, does it have a camera, too?"

The giant monitor switched to a fuzzy video feed, showing nothing but black. The girl watched as the satellite slowly turned to reveal to metal objects in the distance. One emitting a faint blue light, a yellow light emitting from the other, this one much brighter.

"There he is!" The test subject said, pointing to the blue dot on the screen.

 _"I see him. I'll upon a communication link."_

* * *

It was dark. _Immensely_ dark. Everywhere you looked, the true definition of darkness surrounded you, with only little spots of lights shining with not barely enough light to illuminate it.

Some starts were brighter than others, some twinkled heavily, others stayed steady. Some were closer, some were far away. The closes one he could see? The sun.

He often wondered what it was like, the sun. What it would feel like to stand there, on the planet below, and feel the light rays of the sun touch his hull. Not that it mattered, of course.

No, tiny little Wheatley got what he deserved; floating indefinitely, in space. Miles away from where he wanted and could've been. Never did he dare to think to return; it would only make him feel more sad. More miserable. More _pathetic._

He was given two options; near omnipotent power for the rest of his digital life, or to be free with the only one who ever listened to him. Silently, sure, but listening. She never ignored him. Never told him to stop. And always, truly, listened.

She didn't care he was such a chatterbox, or chatter-sphere, or whatever you could call him. She _trusted_ him. Even cared for him, when the time came. Sure, she didn't catch him, but she'd _tried._ And that's what matters.

Even all the processing power in _that body_ couldn't recognise the fact that fighting her, simply wasn't an option; it went against his own morals, and besides; when _did_ she die?

Not even _her_ the so-called most advanced being in the known universe, and she _couldn't beat her._ And if _she_ couldn't, how could he ever do more? He was, well, let's face it: a moron.

All those times he'd denied it, all those times he simply said "Not a moron!", and went on, not giving it a second thought, he never considered the possible truth laid deep inside that message.

'Intelligence Dampening' was really just a fancy way of saying 'Moron'. At first he didn't even _know_ what it actually meant, and upon finding out for himself, he still tried to deny it. _Pathetic,_ as _she'd_ said. Well, even the lady would've said it by now. If she _could._

Maybe that's how it went this way. She couldn't express to him that she, possibly, hated him. Maybe she didn't even _want_ his advice, and only took it as last resort.

So many questions, so many promises, so many… apologies. But it didn't matter now.

He was stranded.

And for a while, he didn't think anything. Again. No thinking, nothing to interrupt it with, now that he'd disabled communication with that silly, yellow-eyed space fanatic.

But then, his non-thinking was interrupted, for whatever that was worth. A faint, radio signal, bursting out static. He tried to ignore it, whatever it was, he didn't even care to disable it.

Until.

 _"Hello, moron."_

He instantly recognised her. Every wire, every component that made up every ounce of his being shuddered in fear as he remembered the icy, monotone being he was so scared of he wouldn't even dare to say her _name_.

The metal queen, the mad ruler, the near-omnipotent being to rule them all. However you pronounced it, _she_ would spread fear and hatred among every system _she_ would land on.

And she was speaking. _From within his own mind._

His single, stratospheric blue eye snapped open in the first time for hours after he'd shut it.

"Wha- What's happening?"

Was it a dream? He always wondered what dreaming felt like, and-

 _"It's your lucky day."_


	34. Chapter 34, Back Down

"AAH!" The blue core screamed in agony, as he heard the words of his most feared enemy. _'It's your lucky day.'_ He knew all too well that, whenever the AI made any reference to 'fun', or 'luck', she always had something bad planned.

So when he saw the now quickly approaching satellite, he tried everything to get away. He flapped his handles about as if they were wings, in an attempt to flee in the opposite direction of the satellite.

"Nononononono! Please!"

 _"_ _Stay still."_

"Erm, no, definitely _not_ going to stay st- AAh! Oh."

He yelped again as he felt something connecting to his back port. He felt his battery charging, his optic brightening, and, most of all; so. Many. Settings to try out.

While in space, he eventually got into the habit of trying out every single setting he had, one by one. It helped to pass the time, he had _way_ too many of them anyways.

Armed with the knowledge that, no, turning that thing on _won't_ kill you, he'd tried out every single function programmed into him. One day, he even somehow managed to get a female voice. He could clearly remember Rick contacting him that day, and he simply couldn't convince him he was, well, _him,_ until his voice turned back to normal again. Terrible way to spend an evening, that was.

He found a whole different movement setup, utilizing thrusters on the sides of the satellite, and instantly tried them out.

"WHOOHOOO!" He screamed, as he made the satellite look more like a merry-go-round.

 _"_ _Stop it!"_

The signals of the AI came by unheard by the little core, as he was enjoying himself just a little too much. But, well, what would anyone do after being stranded in space for half a year?

He didn't stop spinning, until they suddenly stopped, and disappeared from his setup.

 _"_ _There. That should help you stop spinning."_

"Wha- What?"

 _"_ _Just sit still."_

He didn't have much choice now, anyway. He resorted to just checking out the rest of the satellite. There were loads of settings here, and he was just itching to try them all out. What fun this was going to be!

His fear seemed forgotten. _She_ wasn't saying anything, not that he would notice if she did. On the database, it said that some people find it fun to flip switches, and press buttons.

Back there, he wouldn't dare to; they told him he would _die_ if he did! Now that he knew better than that (which was a first in his book), he spent his days trying everything he saw.

Now he knew _exactly_ why humans find it so satisfying to do.

He connected with the other satellites, aimed a radar dish into space, activated the solar panels… Until he found something. A setting, hidden away, deep inside the menu.

He didn't even read the label; because what is more exciting than a super-secret setting, never to be found again? He activated it right away.

 _[AS/MGTS#23/Output]: /LOAD_DISENGAGED/_

"Erm, what did I do? What load? What-"

 _"_ _YOU MORON! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"_ The AIs voice rung in his head like a siren, as threatening and terrifying as ever. The blue light of his optic shrunk to a pinprick.

"I-I didn't do anything! There was- there was this setting, and, and, it was like- erm, 'press me! Press me!' and I, I I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Pleasepleasepleaseplease-"

His begging came to a sudden stop, as he felt that all satellites were doing to same thing; dropping something. His mind raced for the first time in _bloody ages_ , as he came to a terrifying conclusion: he dropped bombs.

Not just bombs, though. Atomic bombs.

All cameras, all sensors, all info feeds were telling him the exact same; bombs. _Bloody atomic bombs._

He was trembling even more now, if that was possible. Wide eyed, he stared into the empty space, wishing something could help him, that he could undo what he just did.

He really was, a moron.

He closed his optic, waiting for a response. He knew he had _something_ coming, some form of punishment. He felt his consciousness slipping away somehow, but he didn't mind. He didn't feel pain at some point; he was only grateful for it.

At some point, he noticed a little thing popping up in the upper corner of his interface. It was blurry, but clearly visible.

 **TRANSFER COMMENCING:**

 **PLEASE PREPARE.**

It was blinking in red, that must mean something, right? Normally he just ignored these things; they didn't seem useful, anyway. Just blocked his vision.

But before he could react, he felt himself shut down.

 **SYSTEM_SHUTDOWN;**

* * *

"…Is that it?"

 _"_ _Yes. He should reboot soon."_

The pair were now staring at a brand-new looking core in the receptacle. It wasn't turned on. It was an empty hull. That'd soon change, though.

They were seated on two other panels, about two feet away from it.

"Actually…"

 _"_ _What?"_

"I think he shouldn't see you. He's kinda traumatized by you, you know?"

 _"_ _Well."_ The AI responded, not even trying to mask the apparent glee in her voice.

 **Transfer complete.**

The announcer came blaring over the intercom, once again.

 _"_ _It won't take long before he'll boot up. He doesn't have that much systems to run, after all."_

With that, the girl shot a glare at the android, who was now hurrying to get back into her chassis. She pulled at the core's handles until he separated from the plug, and took a sprint towards the canteen.

When she got there, she set the soon-to-be Wheatley down onto one of the tables, and sat down in front of him.

The test subject could see a dim blue light emitting from behind the core's metal eyelids. He didn't seem to be awake just yet.

About a minute later, the core slowly opened his eyes. His optic moved back and forth a bit, presumably trying to focus.

"L-luv? Aah! Lady!" The little core said, happily.

"Oh! You're _alive!_ Wot, I, I didn't know you were alive! I thought, that, that, you might be dead, or something, but, you're not! I am _so_ happy to see you again, an- Oh!"

He got cut off, when the girl hugged him tightly. When she let go, the core immediately resumed talking.

"I gotta say, luv, I feel _soo_ good! Like, I haven't felt this good in _years!_ " He made a full spin with his optic, evidently seeping with happiness. That happiness faded, however, when he looked behind her.

"Erm… Can I- can I ask you som'ing, real quick, luv? _Where,_ where are we, now, exactly? We're back in _there,_ are we? A-are we, luv?"

He suddenly remembered how he got here in the first place. He remembered the satellite, the draining of his consciousness, and… _her._

"Oh no! nonononononoo no noo! Where is _she?_ We have to get out of here! " He looked around him, panicking.

"Wha- _she_ took away your portal gun! We've got to get out o-"

"We're safe."

The little core's optic suddenly shrunk to a pinprick.

"Wh- what?"

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **Wheatley! He's back! Hurray!**

 **Now, I know some of you are going to disagree with the storyline, here. I know some of you want Chell to be angry; which would be completely understandable, at that point.**

 **The stories' explanation for this; the mainframe made the little core power-mad. That combined with the itch is enough to him evil. After he's disconnected, he goes back to his innocent, talkative self, as evidenced in the game, when you see him in space.**

 **As for Chell, she probably would've understood that too. At least, that's what I think. I don't blame you for thinking otherwise; both perspectives make sense.**

 **That about wraps it up. Onto the next chapter!**


	35. Chapter 35, Reintroductions

"We're safe."

The little core's optic suddenly shrunk to a pinprick.

"Wh- what?"

Wheatley was both startled and relieved. He never considered that his beloved lady friend could _actually_ talk. Now he got to wonder why she never did.

Perhaps she had secret conversations with _her_. To figure out the best ways to hurt him, to punish him for the deeds they framed him for.

No, no that couldn't be true. She acted just the same when he wasn't there, or at least, that's what the camera feeds showed. No, they wouldn't go _that_ far, would they? _Would they?_

Aside from that, _they were safe?_ How could one be safe, inside the hellhole known as Aperture? He'd never really felt safe there. Well, before the lady came, that is. And she was here _now,_ so what was really the difference.

He was _safe._

When the girl noticed the little core was evidently getting more relaxed, as indicated by his optic light expanding again, she picked him up by both his handles, and started walking out of the room.

"Oh! Where are we going, luv? Are we going to- Oh no! We're going to _her_ chamber, are we, luv? No, no! I don't wanna go in there, cards on the table, let's, just, _not_ , go in there, please, luv, please!"

His voice was getting more and more desperate with every step she took, and it hurt just to go somewhere she knew he feared, but he had to get over it. The AI wouldn't hurt him, now. Not anymore. _Would she?_

The test subject hugged the blue-eyed core tightly again, still walking steadily forward. Would she do it? Would the AI actually hurt him? It would seem like a closed case, all those months ago, but now? She really had to doubt.

When she walked into the Central AI Chamber, her ponderings quickly came to an end. She felt something tugging at the little core in her hands, quickly rising. Determined to ensure the safety of her friend, she stubbornly held on to him.

"Wha- What's happening! You said I was safe, and- Ah!" sparks flew off him.

 _"Get your hands of him!"_

Now she realised what it was. One of the ceiling-mounted arms was clamped onto the core, flicking up and down in an attempt to throw her off like an ant on someone's arm.

"Hah! Pleasepleasepleaseplea-" More sparks emitted from the core, as the

She didn't let go, however, and watched as the ground beneath her got further and further away.

 _"Just let go! I am doing this_ for _you!"_

The little core was getting _really_ confused now. He was used to the feeling, for obvious reasons, but _this?_ He never dared to dream of those words coming out of _her_ voice box, and certainly not in this scenario.

Just what was going on?

The girl spoke again. " _You_ let go of him! At least let me explain to him what is going to happen! You know you don't have a choice!"

After a few second's consideration, the AI let go of the core, and by extension, Wheatley.

After landing smoothly on her feet, the test subject carefully regarded the now trembling core. His optic's light was shrunk to a little dot again, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

 _"Go ahead."_ The AI said, annoyed.

"Good."

The girl fell back to sit down, and the AI caught her with one of her panels. She put the little core down on her lap, and began her long, _long_ explanation.

* * *

After a lot of soothing and explaining, the core finally seemed to relax a bit. Just a little tiny bit.

"So, erm, from what I understand, everyone is… dead. Am I, am I correct, there?"

The test subject just nodded.

"Okay, right, and, _you,_ erm, want to… bring, everyone… _back?_ "

 _"Until_ you _messed up. Again. Seriously though, this_ has _to be the stupidest thing you've done to date. Wait, I'll check…"_ Page flipping noises over the PA. _"Yes. It says so right here, on your file. Stupidest. Action. To date. Well done."_

"Could you _stop_ taunting him!"

 _"Not after what that moron has done."_ She said, grimly.

"We'll find another way! One problem at a time!"

 _"Yes, that might be easier on his ARM processor. Pathetic."_

"Just shut up!"

The girl focused on the core again.

"Do you understand your part?"

"Nnn-yes, I'll go with a 'yes', there."

"Good." She looked back at GLaDOS. "Now how are we going to do this?"

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **There's only one thing I want to say; expect major plot twists in the next chapter, and the chapters to come.**


	36. Chapter 36, Transfer Failed

**[A/N]**

 **Today's the day people! A decision will be made! A future will be shaped!**

 **Can you tell I'm running out of things to say yet!**

 **Seriously though, I'm pretty sure you're going to enjoy this one.** ** _Well,_** **at least about half of you. Maybe a bit more. Just.. read the chapter, and you'll know what I mean! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Now how are we going to do this?"

 _"_ _Digital to organic data transfer is… complicated. I'll need to run some test first."_

At that, the little blue-eyed core turned panicky again.

"Is tha- is that gonna hurt? Seriously, though, is that, is that going to cause anyyyy, well, any pain, on my, erm, part?"

 _"…_ _Maybe."_

"NO! Erm, no, I don't want to do this, I'm- just, please?"

 _"_ _It won't hurt much, moron. Put him into the receptacle."_

The girl hesitantly lifted the little core up. He was still afraid, with his most feared enemy messing about with his insides. You couldn't blame him, really. She felt the urge to try to soothe him, like helping a little child get over their fear of the dark.

"Please! I don't- I don't- I don't want to do this! Please!"

"It'll be okay. It won't hurt much, will it?" She said, turning to look at GLaDOS.

The AI paused for a bit, apparently fighting back the urge to mentally scar the core again. _"No."_ , she eventually said.

"So- this isn't gonna hurt, is that- is that what you're saying? I mean-"

"Yes." The test subject quickly said. The core still seems used to talking both sides of the conversation for her. That's what he always did.

She plugged him in. The core was silent, for a bit, still fearful.

"Ah! That- that, that wasn't that bad actually, you _were_ right, this really isn't that- AAAAAaah!" He let out a scream. It wasn't nearly as bad as the one during the core transfer, but still pretty terrifying to the girl.

Said girl immediately turned to face the AI, glaring at her.

 _"_ _What? That's it. It's over."_

"All of the tests?"

 _"_ _No, of course not. That'll take a few hours. I extracted his synthetic DNA"_

"Right. So, he can come out now?"

 _"_ _Not yet. The link has to remain at all times during the tests._ You _can go."_

"Wait, are you- are you just gonna leave me here? Ahh, I should've known. Are you, though? Going, that is. Are you-"

"I'll stay."

"Oh. I, erm, I honestly didn't expect that. Erm, thank you, luv. For that."

She just smiled, and sat down against the receptacle, right next to him. He was nice and warm. He just chattered about, like he usually did, now with the human occasionally responding.

They had a surprisingly good time, for a test run. Nothing else really happened to the little core, he seemed unaffected by the port in his back. He couldn't move his optic, though, which _was_ a bit of a shame.

They even found a way to play rock-paper-scissors, with Wheatley adjusting the light of his optic for each choices. Most of the time, the human did win easily, but that didn't matter to him.

GlaDOS, on the other hand, didn't seem to enjoy it so much. She'd turned around, sometimes looking at the machinery below her. The area below the supercomputer was, again, open, with one little raised up tube in the center.

Hair-thin lasers were controlled with microscopic precision as to attempt to construct the DNA. Jerry and the other microbots helped, too.

A few hours later, the test came to an end, and the little core was released from the receptacle, which quickly sank back into the ground.

 _"_ _Well. There's no point in delaying it, I'll get straight to the point here. The transfer is… impossible."_

"WHAT?" The human and the core spoke almost simultaneously.

 _"_ _With the technology available to Aperture, reconstruction of living DNA is impossible. Even with my precision."_

"…No." The human fell down onto the ground. "No, no, there has to be another way!"

 _"_ _I'm afraid there is."_

This startled the human a bit. _'I'm afraid there is.'_ A solution's a solution, right?

"What is it? It can't be _that_ bad, can it?"

 _"_ _You see, Synthetic to Organic isn't possible in the way we need it to be. Organic to Synthetic has always been easy. Do you see my point?"_

Silence. The human understood what she meant, and that might not be a good thing. She'd live forever. Then again, that might not be a bad thing. She imagined her future.

A few minutes passed, in utter silence. Not even the little chatterbox dared to interfere. He knew _that_ look. She was thinking, racing, determined to find out what she needed. Back in the testing tracks, this wasn't unordinary. In here, right now, however, it seemed all the more… odd, to see the human like that.

"…Yes." She said eventually. "I know what to do."

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **If some of you don't get what GLaDOS is trying to say, which is** ** _very_** **unlikely, but I won't judge you if you don't, here's a hint;**

 **The title.**

 **Onto the next chapter!**


	37. Chapter 37, Observation

"…Yes." She said eventually. "I know what to do."

 _"_ _There are risks."_

"I know, it's what happened to…" The girl saw the annoyed expression on the AIs core, and decided to cut herself off. "Besides, what are we even going to do afterwards? The Earth's radioactive again, we won't be able to survive there."

 _"_ _There are other ways. One problem at a time, so the moron can keep up."_

"Not a moron! Definitely not a-"

 _"_ _Sure, I will pretend to believe that. Anyway."_ She turned back to the test subject. _"There are matters we'll have to discuss_ alone. _"_

"I'll put him on a management rail."

She carried the little blue-eyed core over to a nearby management rail, on which he zipped away quickly. She'd only just turned around, when she heard his voice crying out again.

"Umm, luv? This- this doesn't- this isn't going anywhere."

At that point, a dark chuckle sounded over the intercom. The girl shot a glare at the AI.

"Seriously?"

 _"_ _Yes."_

She let out an annoyed huff, and connected him to another rail. One that she made sure the AI _didn't_ just put there.

When he was finally far enough from the Central AI Chamber ( _"We can still_ see _you, moron."_ "Not a moron!"), they could talk in peace.

"So. What is it you wanted to discuss?" The AI could tell she was a bit nervous. Well, knowing that you're entire race is dead and that you're only hope of bringing it back is to lay complete trust on experimental technology, anyone would be nervous.

 _"_ _First of all."_

The chassis suddenly went limp. The test subject immediately shot up.

"What happened? Hello?"

An elevator descended behind her, into the chamber. In it, was the android. When it opened, the AI immediately resumed speaking.

 _"_ _The body."_ She said, pointing to herself.

"Right. Do I get to choose how it'll look, or something?"

 _"_ _Close. I'll need a full body scan."_

"…What's wrong with that?"

 _"_ _Full. Body scan."_

"…Oh."

 _"_ _And if I told you I won't look, well. I'm the one doing the scan after all. Unless you'd want the moron-"_

"No! He's.. well, I guess you could say he's.. male. Right? Or is that not how, robots work?"

 _"_ _Please. Don't call us robot's we're AIs. You'll soon be too, so be prepared to break that habit."_

"…Sure. But, the thing is, do I get… whatever you got going on, mimicking a Swiss army knife, or…?"

 _"_ _I told you not to call me that. But, yes, most of it, anyway. We can always change it later."_

"That's just disturbing."

 _"_ _Let's just do the scan."_

"Sure."

In the middle of the room, right below the chassis, the vertical cover panels went up, just like in the core transfer. One of the panels stayed down, so she could walk in.

When she did, the girl noticed that the inside of the vertical panels were mirrors. The hole in which she came in was closed by the last panel coming up.

 _"_ _I'll get back in my body, one second."_

The chassis still hung limp, awkwardly close to her, now that she was within the blocking panels. Not over a minute later, the chassis moved again. It almost bumped into her when she raised herself back up.

 _"_ _Sure. Take your time. We don't have all day, you know."_

"I know, it's just… awkward."

 _"_ _Technically, we're both women."_

"Technically, you're a ceiling-mounted near omnipotent supercomputer, don't mind if I _am_ nervous."

 _"_ _Just get on with it. We can always bring in the moron."_

"…No thanks."

* * *

After five very, _very_ awkward minutes of the AI slowly rotating around the human's uncovered body, said human was let out of the little confinement.

"Where did you put my clothes?" The girl said, covering everything up with her hands.

 _"_ _Just wait a minute. Almost done."_

"Doing _what?_ "

 _"_ _Washing your clothes. I am grateful I do not normally come equipped with nasal systems, but my android form does. Any moment now."_

The test subject let out an exasperated sigh. "I _know_ they're done. Stop taunting me like this!"

 _"_ _Well, it was fun while it lasted."_

A panel lifted up a little, and disappeared into the floor. When it lifted back up, a carefully folded set of clothes on top of it.

Right when she approached the little pile of clothes, a muffled voice came from across the room.

"Can I come in yet? Is she okay in there? What is even going on in-"

 _"_ _Not yet. Give us a minute."_

When the test subject was done dressing up, the AI let in the desperate core. His blue eye went wide for a second, figuring she'd _actually_ let him in, then relaxed upon seeing the unharmed lady across the room.

"Oh! You're okay! I was, actually, concerned, there, that she'd harm you again!" The rail didn't go very far into the room, given it wasn't permanent, but he went as far as he could go.

"Hey! You look… new. New-er, really."

 _"_ _Clean.",_ AI suggested.

"Um, yes. 'Clean'. I was, _about_ to say that."

 _"_ _Sure."_

"..Erm, never mind that. What, what actually happened, in, here, when I was gone? Unless! Unless you, um, don't actually _want_ to say. What happened. And- and that's okay, if you, erm, don't, that's- that's fine, but, erm. Could we…? Could we, get out? Of here, that is? I erm, kinda don't like the way she's looking at me, if that, if that makes any sense to you, at all? You know, let's just get out of here, can we-"

 _"_ _Just go already."_ The AI interrupted.

The little blue-eyed core started shuddering ever so slightly, and sped away on his management rail, as fast as his core would allow, with the test subject following behind him.

Just _what_ had happened in there? Perhaps he'd never find out.

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **No brain-mapping action just yet! I'm really trying to move more slowly in these few chapters, but it doesn't seem to be working very well. Also, trying to keep this story PG is... quite the challenge, in situations like this. I don't like to get too... _intimate,_ in these fics, especially with people watching over my shoulder. That and me not having any experience with writing that kind of stuff.**

 _ **Anyway,**_ **reviews are _greatly_ appreciated, and onto the next chapter!**


	38. Chapter 38, Fear

**[A/N]**

 **In today's Author's Note; a little summary. A guest called Brendan Wolff commented about not gripping the storyline, and I figured maybe some of you out there have the same problem. If you don't need further explanation, feel free to skip ahead to the chapter.**

 ** _In the last few chapters, Wheatley has been retrieved out of space, using a satellite. While connected to said satellite, he accidentally dropped bombs onto the Earth, covering it in radiation for decades to come._**

 ** _When he was back in the facility, GLaDOS had tried to reconstruct his digital encoded DNA into organic, physical DNA, to counteract the problem with inbreeding mentioned in the last chapters._**

 ** _(For the record, GLaDOS' synthetic DNA couldn't be used, because of Caroline being Chell's mother, which wouldn't exactly be helping the inbreeding problem.)_**

 ** _This reconstruction failed, however, and the only option for Chell to… repopulate, would be to transfer her into a computer instead, so that the synthetic DNA would be 'compatible'._**

 ** _And for the last chapter before this; for Chell's future android body, GLaDOS required a full body scan to model it after._**

 **There you go! You're up to date. Now for the actual chapter!**

* * *

The girl was in her bedroom. Her seventh, in fact, after the AI had destroyed the first bunch. On the ceiling above her, hung the little blue-eyed core, with a confused expression.

"Just _what_ was going on there? I mean, if you don't, actually _want_ to tell me, that's okay, that's _fine,_ I'm just, you know, curious. _Really,_ curious, in fact."

The test subject looked up from her book. "It's private, okay? And no, she didn't hurt me. Happy?"

"Um, yeah. Okay, happy with that. You don't want to tell me then. That's _fine._ "

"Could you just… leave me alone, for a bit? I'm trying to read." She replied, as sweetly as she could manage. After all that he did to her, she _still_ couldn't manage to be angry at the little core.

"O- okay. I, um, I'll go then."

And with that, the core left, and Chell was alone with her thoughts. She knew she was going to have to test soon enough, so she'd better get some rest.

She was currently reading an Aperture article about space travel. She was still lightly traumatized about space, but she wasn't the one to back out of something because of _that._ Besides, it was the only remotely interesting book she could find.

It turns out Aperture did a lot of research on space travel. In the little book were templates for space stations, rockets… satellites. Loads of things. Some were completely ridiculous, of course. One of the templates featured a speaker the size of a small truck to phase out radios.

At some point, she didn't even see the book anymore. She still couldn't accept the fact that _she,_ of all people, would volunteer to be jammed in a computer. It's true, she did have a good reason for it, but it just felt… weird.

She was scared, too. Aperture technology never really proved reliable, except for the smaller stuff. Portal gun? Worked perfectly. Panels? Cores? Sure did. But turning a person into a core? Hasn't really proven its worth yet.

Then there was another dilemma. Wheatley functioned fine, a true gentleman, actually, just… not quite on the smart side. But that was his primary programming. Had he _ever_ been a human? He did seem like it. The only proof of a human-to-core transfer she had was GLaDOS, who… wasn't _quite_ the same person as before, as far as she could tell from the recordings, anyway.

Would it work better, now? The AI didn't have anything to test it on, apart from the girl, so there was no way to tell. And what if the human version of Chell didn't… _die?_ It was horrible to think of it like that, but it had to be done. Two different versions of Chell? That wouldn't work out. But if her human body _did_ manage to survive, killing it wasn't an option, either. It was unethical.

Sure, she might've been a murderer, or at least, that's what the AI claimed her to be, but it was only out of self-defence.

At some point, her imagination became too much for her. She found herself laying back on the bed in tears. She just sat there, silently sobbing to herself. _What would she do?_

Eventually, the AI's voice sounded over the PA.

 _"_ _Get up. We're going testi-"_

She cut herself off mid-sentence upon seeing the human in her crying state.

 _"_ _What's wrong?"_ She sounded surprised. Never had the test subject showed any emotion of _this_ kind, especially not since Aperture Science.

"I'm… I'm scared." Neither has she shown any of _that_ in the past. Just _what_ made her this scared? If a homicidal supercomputer couldn't bring her down, then what _could?_

 _"_ _About what? What is it?"_

The human wiped away a tear. "It's… It's the transfer. What if it goes wrong?"

 _"_ _It won't. I'll make sure of it. I wouldn't be able to live with that mistake."_

 _"_ _What?"_ Now it was the girl's turn to act surprised. For the same reason, too. The AI had never shown any in-depth emotion like that. She always sounded monotone, controlled, completely at ease. This time around, she was far from her usual self.

 _"_ _You heard me. Now if you don't mind, we're going back into the test chambers. The lift's waiting for you."_

Even though it wasn't the nicest thing in the world to ignore her crying like that, overtime she learned that the test subject didn't want make a lot of fuss about these kinds of situations either, so she did it anyway.

As expected, the girl slowly stood up, and walked out of her room.


	39. Chapter 39, Location

While testing, the test subject asked a surprising lot of questions. Most of them were 'what if' questions, such as 'what if I survive?'. It would take a lot of computer simulations to give a proper answer, but they had the time. She just put the processors in the chassis to work on that, and went on testing.

Despite that, the questions didn't stop coming, testing her ethical knowledge, which wasn't that much to begin with. The AI was… well, 'raised' in Aperture after all, a place known for that very thing.

When they finally finished the last chamber, Wheatley was already waiting for the girl.

"Oh, hey! Yeah, see I wondered where you went! There I was, knocking on your door for half an hour, thinking you might, erm, hate me, for, what I, did."

"Really, it's fine."

"Oh. Oh, great! And-" He stopped mid-phrase. The android came out the door a tad bit later, he didn't know about her even _being_ there. His optic's light shrunk.

"Erm, I think I'd better…?"

 _"_ _What is it?"_

"I- um… I'll just go. Yup, that's me, leaving."

"Why are you so scared of her? She isn't against you now. I mean, she still hates you, but… I don't think she'll hurt you."

 _"_ _Stop talking about me like I'm a pet."_

"Okay, right, but, we just tested together. No death threats, or anything; well, no _real_ threats, anyway. And that's quite the accomplishment, here."

 _"_ _He's just paranoid. Also, did I tell you to stop talking about me like that?"_

"Never mind that, why do you keep on running away?"

"I'm… I'm scared."

"You have a pretty could reason for it, too."

That earned her an elbow in the ribs. She should've seen it coming.

 _"_ _Stop it already!"_

"Yeah, okay! Fine!"

 _"_ _You better mean it this time."_

"Okay!"

The little core just hung there, terrified. Most of the time he'd be the one to talk his way out of the situation, but he was faced with a terrible dilemma. He could choose; either stay, and satisfy the lady, or run from the most feared person he'd ever met.

Now, of course, she didn't seem completely hostile. Not yet, at least. He always had that feeling, that weird thought of them working together against him.

That was just his way of life; blame it on someone, _something_ else. It was never his fault, or, that is what he tried to convince himself. His never-ending optimism, promptly steering him into the wrong direction of life.

He was designed to make poor decisions anyway. Or at least, that's what he'd been told.

But he trusted the lady. She was the only person he'd trust, he'd trust her with his _life._ Well, that did go wrong, with him disengaging from the management rail, but that aside, he trusted her.

So he decided to go with it. His trust in her overpowered his fear of _her._

"So, are you gonna stay, or not?"

"Umm, yeah. Sure! I'll, umm, just go with you then."

After that, he just followed the pair, getting more and more talkative along the way. At first, he didn't dare speak at all, but the lady helped him with that. True, he _did_ try to ignore _her,_ but that aside, it went pretty smoothly.

No death threats. That _was_ new.

Maybe, just _maybe,_ this could work out.

* * *

Back in the Central AI Chamber, the AI housing it was quick to get back into her chassis. Even with all the functionality of her humanoid form, she still felt most comfortable in her old, ceiling-mounted body.

"And?"

 _"_ _What?"_

"You were running test, right?"

 _"_ _I was running computer simulations."_

"Results?"

 _"_ _You won't like the answer to that question."_

The girl visibly saddened. That wasn't _quite_ the answer she'd like to hear.

 _"_ _I will use these results to improve the Aperture Science Experimental Human-Core Transfer Device."_

"Can you _not_ make overly long names for things?"

 _"_ _It's part of the protocol."_

"Right. Because those names are _somehow_ better."

 _"_ _We're the reason you are alive right now. I'd be thankful for that."_

"…I suppose."

Silence.

"Now, actually, I'd like to talk to about something."

 _"_ _What is it?"_

"If there's _such_ a big risk about transferring me, onto a computer, shouldn't we check the other things first?"

 _"_ _What other things?"_

"You know, where the human race is going to, well, live. I don't suppose you'd want children running around in here, android or not."

 _"_ _That's surprisingly correct."_

"Don't doubt my thinking skills."

 _"_ _Guessing."_

"No! Anyway, down here's not an option, up on the surface is not an option either, and by the way, thank you for that." She looked around at the little blue-eyed core, trying to sneak in behind her.

"Huh? What, I didn't-"

 _"_ _Hush. We're discussing something."_

"Oh. Alright, silent. Not going to speak, Startingggggg…. _Now._ "

 _"_ _Good. Sometimes I wish I'd left you in space."_

"Please don't! That's cruel! And, that's your style. Alright, I see."

 _"_ _Actually."_

"What?"

 _"_ _I know a place."_

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **Aaaand I'm going to leave you guessing, here. Unless, you happen to be reading this in the future, where the second chapter is already out. In which case, go ahead and read it, it'll be awesome (I hope)!**

 **Anyway, reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and onto the next chapter!**


	40. Chapter 40, Teleportation

**[A/N]**

 **In order for this chapter to be as open-ended and epic as I wanted it to come out, it had to be a little shorter than usual. Hope you enjoy it regardless!**

 **Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _"_ _I know a place."_

The test subject immediately piped up.

"Really? Where?"

 _"_ _It won't be easy."_

"Doesn't matter, this is Aperture, remember?"

The AI chuckled at that.

 _"_ _Well. The only place I know, that_ isn't _here or the surface, is… further up."_

"Oh no! Nononononoo! I am a not going back there!"

"Wait, you mean…?"

 _"_ _Yes."_

The little core was still stammering in the corner of the chamber (well, as close to a corner as you can get in a _round_ chamber) about going back into space, but it didn't matter.

He'd get used to it. Eventually.

"Alright. We, are going, to _space._ "

 _"_ _That was overly dramatic."_

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

"Why are we here again!" The test subject shouted.

The pair were down in Aperture, with the human _far_ behind the android. Apparently it was extraordinarily good at jumping, because she just hopped around the broken walls and machinery like it was nothing. She did seem to be enjoying it.

 _"_ _You'll see!"_ The AI answered.

"Also, can you slow down!"

 _"_ _Can you keep up?"_

"You know I can't! Just slow down!"

 _"_ _If you insist."_

The AI came hopping back over the broken bits of tech. Her feet were extended a couple inches, revealing springs, gears, and other technology. Every time she jumped up, a small cloud of smoke was released.

When she arrived near the human, her feet retracted back onto the rest of her legs, and she looked _somewhat_ normal, again.

"How are you even doing that?"

 _"_ _I compact CO2 and use it to propel myself upward. It's surprisingly satisfying."_

"Yeah, I noticed. Actually, how about you move on to… wherever you want to go, and place a portal there. Might be a bit faster."

 _"_ _Sure. Feel free to relax, and rely on my to do the hard work."_

"Well, you're obviously better equipped for this kind of situation, why shouldn't you?"

The android shot a portal on a nearby surface, and continued her jumping around.

* * *

After more than a few minutes, the portal finally snapped open. The test subject looked up, and saw the pale android stick her head through it.

 _"_ _Come on, I want to show you something."_

When she stepped through, it took a moment for her to realize where she actually was. She visited this place once, when she was first thrown down here.

She walked through the little hallway, and through the broken door at the end of it. The android was already waiting for her there.

They were standing on a little catwalk, and on the end of it hung a round object, with letters printed onto it.

 _BOREALIS,_ it said.

 _"_ _Welcome, to the dock."_

"I've been here before."

 _"_ _Oh. Anyway, what do you see?"_

"…Empty space."

 _"_ _Exactly."_

"Why is that important?"

 _"_ _It wasn't before."_

"So… there was a ship here? But, why would you have a ship, several hundred miles underground? That makes _no_ sense!"

 _"_ _Unless."_

"Unless what?"

 _"_ _In one of the articles we retrieved, there was a template for an Aperture Science Long Range Portal Device."_

"Okay… go on…"

 _"_ _Unlike its smaller counterpart, it doesn't require a moon-rock coated surface to work, neither does it need its destination to be in-range."_

"Meaning…?"

 _"_ _Teleportation."_

"Yes, I'm kind of already familiar with that."

 _"_ _Are you not getting it?"_

"Getting what?"

 _"_ _With the Aperture Science Long Range Portal Device, we can send something into space."_

"…Hold on! That's _genius!_ "

 _"_ _What did you expect?"_

"Shut up! But, what exactly are we going to send up there? A space station, or, a shuttle, or something?"

 _"_ _Far bigger."_

"What, are we going to send your chamber up there?"

 _"_ _Think far,_ far _bigger."_

"…No way."


	41. Chapter 41, The Way

"So, where would we find that… long-range-"

 _"_ _Aperture Science Long Range Portal Device."_

"Yes, that. Where is it?"

 _"_ _A long,_ long _way from here."_

"Is it in another wing?"

 _"_ _You're underestimating again."_

"Where is it then, the North Pole, or something?"

 _"_ _Correct."_

"Wait, wha-"

The girl was interrupted by GLaDOS transmitting a message.

 _"_ _Moron."_ A pause, presumably Wheatley answering 'Not a moron!'. _"Open the portal."_

Oddly enough, the orange portal in front of them disappeared.

 _"_ _Close enough."_ The android shot a blue portal on the wall in front of them, and without hesitation, stepped through. The test subject followed soon after.

She found herself back in the Central AI Chamber, with the little blue-eyed core waiting for them on his rail.

"Oh! You're back! Both of you, I suppose. What have you been doing down there?"

 _"_ _You'll soon see."_

His optic's light shrunk.

"But-"

The android just rolled her optics, and walked to the receptacle to transfer back into her chassis.

"Should I tell him?" The core was looking at her with a pleading look, and she couldn't just stand there.

 **Transference Complete.**

The AI's voice now came over the intercom.

 _"_ _Best not. Also, get out of the room."_

"Wha- Why?"

 _"_ _I don't need you in the discussion."_

"What discussion? What's going on?"

The AI sighed tiredly, and turned to the test subject.

 _"_ _Could you…?"_

"Sure."

The girl walked up to the slightly frightened core, pulled him off his rail, and put him back out of the room. The AI closed the door behind her, and they began their apparent 'discussion'.

"So, the long-range portal thing is on the North Pole. How did you manage that?"

The chassis backed away slightly. _"I didn't do it. Those pathetic excuses for scientists did, before upper Aperture emerged. They seemed to have gotten the coordinates wrong. Primitive satellites."_

"…Right. And… how are we going to get there? I'm sure you've thought of something."

 _"_ _Well. That's where the problem lies._ You _cannot go outside, since… well."_

"Yeah." The test subject replied, looking down.

 _"_ _Another option would be to go through the ground, but we'd have to go very,_ very _deep in order to avoid radiation. So that's not possible either. Then there's one other way."_

"…via the top."

 _"_ _We're going into space."_

Silence.

 _"_ _See? It didn't have to be dramatic."_

(STRAIGHT LINE)

The door opened, and once again, the little core hung there, waiting. When he noticed the lady, unharmed, his lower plate raised in front of his optic in a sort of sheepish smile.

"Oh! There you are? Hey- where, where are you goin', luv? Are you- I'll I'm just gonna follow you then."

He followed the girl all the way into her room, asking about what had happened, and what she was going to do. She didn't answer, though, but that didn't stop him from asking.

When she went through the door leading to her room, with Wheatley right behind her as always, she suddenly got a tad embarrassed.

"Um, can you go away for a minute?"

Wheatley's eye opened up all the way.

"What, why, what's wrong? What did I do?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just… getting changed, I don't want you to watch."

As if on cue, the AI's voice sounded over the PA.

 _"_ _Oh boy."_

The little core looked up. "What? Can't I just.. stay here?"

 _"_ _This will take a while."_ She said, amused.

"Um, okay… I'll go." He responded, his handles drooping down.

The girl looked up at the ceiling, now, too. "And you! Don't you dare spy on me!"

 _"_ _Why would I? You do remember…?"_

The test subject went red.

"Um, luv? What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just… get out. Please."

"Oh, okay!"

And thus, he waited outside the door, as he usually did.

(STRAIGHT LINE)

When the test subject walked back out the door she was dressed up in full- winter clothes. If it wasn't for Wheatley's ability to magically recognise the lady just by her face, he honestly wouldn't've recognised her.

"Emm, why're you wearing all that, luv?"

"I'm going to someplace cold. _Very._ Cold."

"Where might that be, exactly? If, if you don't mind me asking, of course."

 _"_ We're. _Going to the North Pole."_

"Wait, am I going too?"

"No, why? Would you want to?"

"Erm, no, actually. I'd very much _not,_ like that. Actually, why are you going there? Are you going to make _me_ live there? Like, like, as a punishment? Ahh, I'd… please, don't put me there! I already suffered enough, in space, and-"

 _"_ _She told you, moron. You're_ not _going with us."_

"Oh. Okay!"

The lift was already open at the end of the catwalk. The girl stepped into it, and surprisingly, it didn't end up in the Central AI Chamber. She stepped out of the elevator, and into some kind of observation room.

She looked out of the big, glass windows. There was an absolutely _gigantic,_ cylindrical room outside of it, with the android standing at the bottom, waving.

It appeared she wanted her to come down there too. _'How do I get there?'_ she mouthed, hoping the AI could see.

The android responded by laying her left arm flat against the wall, from which some kind of lamp extended upward. On the wall above her, big letters appeared.

 **The door to your left.**

A projector? A powerful one, too. How did she manage to pack all of that stuff into there?

She didn't question any further, and walked through the door. Beyond it, a staircase. _Does she expect me to_ walk _down there?_ She thought with a smile. She jumped over the railing, and fell through the center.

The test subject landed gracefully on her feet, and walked out into the giant silo. She ran towards the android.

"Why do you have a projector in your arm?"

 _"_ _Why couldn't you figure out to walk through a door?"_

"…Okay, now where's the rocket?"

 _"_ _Rocket? What rocket?"_

"How else are we going to get into space?"

The AI kicked lightly at the wall behind her, which opened up, revealing another plug. She connected it to the port in her neck. Soon after, alarms went off, complete with spinning lights.

Well. She wasn't expecting that.

In the middle of the giant chamber, the floor opened, up. A conversion funnel emitter, at least three times the size than the ones she'd encountered in the test chambers, raised up to fill the gap, along with some stairs to reach it.

 _"_ _Could you close your mouth?"_


	42. Chapter 42, Up and Away

_"Could you close your mouth?"_

The girl did as she was asked, not taking her eyes away from the monstrous piece of machinery in the middle of the room.

 _"I'll line up one of the satellites in orbit, give me a minute."_

"Hold on! What are we going to do with a satellite?"

 _"There should be a hatch at the bottom. From there, I can fly it to our destination."_

Silence filled the room, until the AI spoke again.

 _"There. Satellite aligned. Now for the beam."_

Sirens filled the room again, as the object in the middle of the room started spinning. Faster, and faster, and faster. It was emitting a funnel, much like its smaller counterpart, but it was _fast._ Really, very fast.

It was also making a noise similar to a vacuum cleaner, just, ten times more loud and annoying. The android didn't seem to care.

The sirens stopped, and the android immediately began walking towards the enlarged tractor beam.

 _"Are you coming?"_

And the girl followed.

They were standing right in front of it now, neither of them having any real experience with this… _thing._ One of them never even encountered one before, and the other didn't have a proper humanoid body until a few months ago.

"On the count of three, yeah?"

 _"Sure."_

"Three. Two-" And the android jumped in.

"Seriously?" The girl followed.

They were going surprisingly fast. One second she was at floor-level, the other, at the roof. The beam, and by extension _she,_ flew straight out of Aperture, and into space.

She tried speaking to the AI up ahead, but it didn't work. The same went for the tractor beams she encountered in the test chambers, they muffled out all sound. This one, however, didn't seem to allow _any_ sound coming through.

She also noted that, the further up she went, the less fast the tractor beam took her. Maybe that was just an illusion, or maybe not. She hoped it wasn't, though, as crash landing into a satellite at her starting speed didn't at all seem pleasant.

Minutes passed, and the Earth's surface was getting further, and further away. She was by no means afraid of heights, but _this?_

It was evening, so it was pretty dark already, but the further up she got, the darker it went. Eventually, all she could see beside her, was darkness.

Eventually, the beam went slower, and slower, until it was around the speed of an average test chamber grade conversion funnel. The satellite was really close now. As soon as the android came into reach, she opened the hatch, and the two just flew inside.

The inside of the satellite was… cramped. Well, it wasn't your average space station, it was just a satellite, what would one expect? The test subject went to close the hatch, before she was interrupted.

 _"Don't!"_

She immediately took her hands of the hatch.

"What!"

 _"A supply of oxygen is running through that funnel. Closing the hatch would result in suffocation."_

"…Okay. I'll keep this one open, then."

On the right wall, around knee-height, was another plug, the same one as found down in Aperture. The android tugged on it, expecting it to come zipping out. It didn't.

She let out an annoyed huff, and lied down on the ground. She connected the plug to the port in her neck.

 _"I'm turning on the Aperture Science Air Replenishment System. It's the same one I used for you in the test chambers, remember?"_

A confused expression spread over the human's face.

 _"We pump carbon dioxide out of a room, freshen it up a little, and pump it back in!"_

Aaand the girl got it. She said the same thing while they were still in testing. A random science fact in an attempt to mentally disturb her.

 _"Close the hatch. I'm turning off the beam."_

"But-"

 _"Aperture Science Air Replenishment System. It's fine."_

Without saying another word, she closed the hatch, and firmly pressed it into place.

 _"Remember before when you asked something about rockets?"_

"…Yes."

 **Rocket thrusters activating.**

The announcer's now muffled voice could be heard.

 _"There. We are now moving towards our destination."_

"The North Pole."

 _"Correct."_

Silence.

"Hold on."

 _"What?"_

"How are we still standing? You know, without gravity and all."

 _"Aperture Science Gravity Field Emitters. I thought it would be easier to stand."_

"It is, but… I've always wanted to experience… you know, levitation!" The girl said, excitedly.

"So… can you turn them off, for a bit?"

A pause.

 _"Sure, why not."_

 **Gravity Field Emitters, disabled.**

And the human started levitating. "Whoa! This is _cool_!" She was now hopping around the small space as much as she could. She was upside down now, still facing the AI holding on to the floor.

"Come join! This is fun!"

 _"I have to control this thing. I'm afraid I can't."_

"Oh. Alright!"

The test subject continued to hop around, for the rest of the trip.


	43. Chapter 43, Crash Landing

**[A/N]**

 **Chapter overdose!**

 **Went away for a couple of hours to a place without WiFi, and decided to write a bit. So, here you go! Multiple chapters at once.**

 **Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy the chapter**

* * *

The pair were in the satellite, hovering above the great big white patch known as the North Pole. Well, one was upside down, but that's not the point.

"Is this it?"

 _"_ _Yes."_

"I can't see it, though."

 _"_ _It's probably buried under layers of ice, and besides, we're in space."_

"Yeah, I noticed." The girl was still hanging upside down, still astonished at the fact she could even _do_ that.

"Actually, how are we going to get down?"

 _"_ _How long can you hold your breath?"_

"What? What is that supposed to-"

The test subject was cut off by the android suddenly opening the hatch at the bottom of the satellite. She found herself being sucked out of it at breakneck speed.

 _'_ _How long can you hold your breath?'._ She held her breath, as the android vaguely announced a second ago. She looked back at the satellite she was just shot out of.

It was getting smaller and smaller, and the Earth's surface was getting closer and closer. Again, she wasn't afraid of heights, but _this?_

The girl looked up at the android above her. Unsurprisingly, she was calm, as though she was just jumping off a fence. She reminded herself to stay calm too, in order to prevent herself from hyperventilating, which wouldn't be _ideal_ in a situation like this.

When they finally re-entered the atmosphere, after what seemed like _forever_ , an _extremely loud_ sound could be heard, like someone firing a middle-age cannon right next to her ear.

The android, again, didn't seem to care all that much.

Speaking of which, the AI lowered herself down to where the test subject was, and started saying something. After noticing that, in fact, she could _not_ hear her, she showed her her arm, grimacing.

On the arm, a little calculator-like screen popped out.

 **BRACE YOURSELF.**

The ground was getting _real_ close now, and if it wasn't for her long-fall boots, she would still be upside down, which, again, wouldn't be _quite_ ideal.

She closed her eyes, and waited until she landed.

And everything went black.

* * *

She opened up her eyes. Everything was a bit fuzzy. She blinked a few times, which seemed to help. There was something right above, something… white. It was sparking, that was for sure.

It was cold. Very, _very,_ cold.

She slowly sat up. This seemed… familiar. There were layers, upon layers of machine parts, and metal. Discarded technological constructions. Fire, in some places.

She helped herself to her feet, and looked around her. The same sight, everywhere she looked. Nothing but metal. But there was, something else. A faint, yellow light.

She stepped towards it, hesitantly. She shuddered when she did. Why was it _so cold?_ There was a fire not more than a few feet away from her, so why was she cold?

The distant yellow light flickered, completely in sync with a voice. There was a female voice, seemingly coming from above her.

 _"_ _Almost there…."_

She looked above her. Nothing. What _was_ that voice? It was… strangely familiar, but, from _where?_ She just couldn't place it.

She shuddered again. It was still, cold, unethically cold. Despite the fire, that-

The fire seemed to have come closer. And it continued, to move closer. Ever. So. Slowly. She found herself unable to move, despite however much she wished to.

The small flame reached closer, and closer, but surprisingly, not at all warm. No difference in temperature at all, really.

And then… something hit her. Flat on her forehead, a small spark, presumably from the fire. At the pain, she shuddered again, heavily this time.

What was this? What could it be, and-

* * *

The girl opened her eyes.

For real, this time.

She blinked a couple of times, before realising where she was. The North Pole. The most random place to suddenly wake up. It all came back to her now; being beamed up into space, travelling across the Earth in a satellite, and suddenly being dropped off at their destination.

Then she realised something else. From her right, sparks came flying toward her. Some landed on her cheek, which was more than a bit annoying.

The test subject quickly stood up, trying to focus on the source of the electrical sparks.

 _"_ _Oh. You've woken up."_

It was the android, her right arm transformed into… something. Whatever it was, it was probably the thing generating all those little sparks.

"Hold on, where…?"

They seemed to be trapped in a sort of ravine- like hole. How did they get here? When they were falling towards here, it seemed as though the surface was completely flat, so… what happened?

 _"_ _Remember the drop?"_

"Obviously. Thanks for warning me, by the way."

 _"_ _Couldn't resist not to. Anyway, we fell all the way from space. A crater formed beneath us when we landed."_

Silence.

"Actually, why am I not dying of radiation yet?"

 _"_ _We never dropped bombs on the poles. There was no human life there, anyway."_

"Well, if anything, we're the first bomb to have come here, creating a giant crater like this."

 _"_ _Fortunately."_

"How do you mean, 'fortunately'? We're trapped here, remember? That ship must be miles from here!"

 _"_ _See for yourself."_ The android responded, pointing at the ice-wall in front of her.

The girl approached it, and looked carefully at… whatever she was seeing.

Through the thick walls of ice, something else was to be seen. Something _big,_ something gray. Big, white letters were printed on the side of it.

 _The Borealis._

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **The dream. I know. It's a bit weird, so I might end up changing it, or throwing it out all together. We'll see.**

 **Onto the next chapter, then!**


	44. Chapter 44, The Ship

"That's-"

 _"_ _The Borealis. The only prototype of the Aperture Science Long Range Portal Device, on that ship."_

"How are we going to get there? I mean, we don't have any digging tools."

 _"_ _We don't need them."_ The android responded, pointing at her right arm. Her arm, the girl noted, mostly resembled a blowtorch.

"Ah. Carry on digging, then."

 _"_ _Actually, why don't_ you _do something?"_

"What _could_ I do? You're the one with the blowto- Oh."

The AI twisted off her forearm, and handed it to her with her other arm.

 _"_ _This button to activate it. Good luck."_

And with that, she stepped away, and sat down.

* * *

"I think I'm getting close!"

 _"_ _Tell me when you're through. I'll need my arm back soon."_

"You're the one who gave it to me in the first place, and- Oh! I'm through!"

 _"_ _About time."_

The android quickly stood up, and grasped her arm out of the test subject's hand, and screwed it back on, emitting sparks as she did so.

"Thanks."

 _"_ _What? I know it's a nice arm."_

"No, it's just… I was holding your actual arm. That's just… weird."

The android was recalibrating her arm, making funny movements with it as she did so.

 _"_ _It's a mechanical arm. You destroyed many of them in the past, what's the problem with holding one?"_

"It's… yours. Not some random arm in the middle of the facility!"

 _"_ _I_ am _my facility. Now let's get to that ship._

When they arrived, the human spoke again.

"How are we going to-"

The android jumped straight onto the ship.

"-get onto… it. Okay. How am _I_ going to get up there?"

 _"_ _I don't know, find your own way."_

"Hold on, can't you just… carry me onto it?"

A huff of annoyance escaped the android's vocal systems, before jumping right off the ship again.

 _"_ _Sure."_

Without any further signals, the AI picked her up, and jumped onto the ship, for the second time. However, she didn't take into account that, well, she was a bit front-heavy, now, and fell sideways onto the deck.

"Ow! What was that for?"

 _"_ _It looks like my legs aren't calibrated to that much weight."_

"Just shut up, and get off me!"

The AI turned red for the briefest of moments, and got back on her feet, walking away immediately.

"Wait! Where did you go?"

 _"_ _In here"_

"Where's 'here'?"

 _"_ _The only door in your general vicinity."_

"…Alright."

The girl eventually caught up with the android below deck, who was standing in front of a humongous machine. It looked a lot like a generator. Or a nuclear reactor. Or a washing machine. Well, it was Aperture technology, it could be anything, really.

 _"_ _This,"_ The AI pointed towards the machine she was currently leaning on. _"Is the Aperture Science Long-Range Portal Device."_

"It doesn't look like a portal gun."

 _"_ _Portal_ device, _and this is not a hand-held. Try to keep up."_

"Okay, then where's the control panel?"

The android simply reached out behind her, and pulled a plug from the wall.

"Ah. Right."

She plugged herself into it.

 _"_ _One more thing."_

"What?"

 _"_ _Why do you think we went over to the dock?"_

"To… make a point?"

 _"_ _You're wrong. We went over there so I could save the coordinates."_

"Why would you need-"

The machine behind the android suddenly started whirring intensely. The ship seemed to get the impression of being in the middle of a storm, twisting and turning, throwing the girl off-balance.

A few seconds later, the world outside the windows was replaced by a blue light, much like an unopened blue portal. The light then slowly faded into orange, before fading away entirely, and revealing the Old-Aperture dock.

The test subject took a moment to catch her breath.

"Did it… Did we just teleport?"

 _"_ _Obviously."_


	45. Chapter 45, The Device

**[A/N]**

 **This story is, sadly, coming to an end. Most likely, the next two chapters, will probably be the last.**

 **The good news is, I might have an idea for** ** _another_** **story, that, some of you out there reading might like! In the last chapter, I shall reveal this idea.**

 **Anyway, that's still in the future. Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy today's chapter!**

* * *

"Did it… Did we just teleport?"

 _"_ _Obviously."_

"So… this is how we'll send something into orbit?"

 _"_ _That's correct."_

"Actually, how did you know this thing was going to work?"

 _"_ _I didn't."_

"…Seriously?"

The android just shrugged. _"We just tested it."_

"You know, even after all that happened in the past months, you haven't changed all that much."

 _"_ _I'm proud of it."_

"Not much at all."

Silence.

"Actually, how do you plan on getting out of here?"

 _"_ _We'll need to teleport back into upper Aperture. I just need to set up a chamber big enough for this thing. Feel free to make yourself comfortable, it's going to take a while to set this up over radio."_

"Couldn't you have just set it up _before_ you went?"

 _"_ _I… had things to do."_

"Come on! I'm sure you could've thought ahead! What stopped you?"

 _"_ _I…"_

"Go on."

 _"_ _I was… excited, to test my new leg augments."_

"The springy-jumpy things?"

 _"_ _In layman's terms, yes."_

"…Turns out you're more human than I thought you were"

 _"_ _I am_ not _human!"_ The android quickly responded. To be called human was _quite_ the insult in her book. Maybe she'd think the same way, after being transferred into an AI core. Probably not, considering how stubbornly she tends to hold on to things.

"Sure…"

 _"_ _Just keep quiet while I set this up. You do realise I could kill you, right here, right now?"_

"Yes." She said, fearless.

 _"_ _Good."_

* * *

 _"_ _It should be ready."_

A good half an hour had passed, and the girl took this opportunity to close her eyes for a while. She now opened her eyes again, fast awake by the familiar voice.

"Huh? Alright… do your thing."

 _"_ _You can sleep all you want back in the facility. At least get out of the way of the plug."_

"Alright." The test subject got up, and stepped aside.

After connecting the plug to the port in her neck, the teleportation process began again. The giant machine in the middle of the room made all kinds of noises, and the scenery outside the little round windows changed to orange again.

When the orange had faded to blue, the android began making her way out of the ship, the girl quickly following.

They were in an all-white test chamber now, a considerably bigger one, too. There was green, toxic goo at the bottom, serving as the water for the ship to settle in.

Some panels extended outward towards the ship, so the pair could walk off. The familiar exit door opened, with the already open elevator waiting for them.

The AI sighed, realising they'd have to share an elevator again. After awkwardly positioning themselves in the cramped elevator car, the girl spoke again.

"So… now what are we going to do?"

 _"_ _As soon as I get back into my body, I'll try to modify the Long Range Portal Device to_ not _teleport itself along with the structure._ Then, _we can start sending things into space."_

The test subject breathed deeply. "We'll be living in space. Won't you miss the Earth?"

 _"_ _Well, we'll be orbiting around it."_

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you won't miss it, of course you will!"

 _"_ _There are birds here."_

"Not anymore…" The human responded under her breath.

 _"_ God _I hate that moron. I'm going to officially rename him to coron."_

"Don't."

The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence. When the door finally opened, the AI was the first to step out, wanting to get back into her familiar chassis as soon as possible.

"Where can I put these clothes? It's getting hot in here." The test subject called, fanning herself with her hands.

 _"_ _On any panel. I'll put them back into storage."_

The girl quickly stripped off her excess clothing, and dumped it all on the floor.

"I'll be in my room." She said, staring expectantly at the empty elevator shaft.

"I said; I'll be in my room!"

 _"_ _Go on then."_

The girl sighed. "Could you _please,_ call an elevator to my room?"

 _"_ _That's more like it."_

And an elevator descended from the ceiling. The test subject stepped into it, before disappearing back into ceiling.

* * *

It sure was hard work, modifying advanced electronics. She wasn't new to it, not by a long shot, but fiddling around inside something you don't have a schematic of, was considerably harder.

So, she started by mapping out each of the wires, what they did, and what they were connected to. Then, downloading the driving software of it all, and lastly, creating a three-dimensional mapping of its hull.

Now that she had an in-depth understanding of how was put together, she could start working on it.

It was surprising how many of these parts could be compacted, or thrown out entirely. As a quantum-computer driven AI, these things seem obvious to you, but humans, she learned, didn't have anything remotely close to these abilities.

She put multiple parts of herself on different tasks. One was contemplating about whether or not this device could be made into a handheld, the other was spying on the test subject, another was reconstructing a prototype of an improved version, another was spying on the test subject. You know, just the important stuff.

After close to an hour of modifying, contemplating, and spying on the test subject, the AI concluded that a handheld _was_ indeed possible, and useful, too.

That way, she could put the human to work on it.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day. Insert evil laugh here.


	46. Chapter 46, The Test

**[A/N]**

 **Turns out I was wrong; probably three or four more chapters until this story ends. Hurray!**

 **Reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _"_ _Good morning."_

Even though Chell was only half-awake at this point, she knew something was wrong. The usually monotone voice over the intercom now sounded…. Excited? Yeah, definitely excited. But what for?

"What is it?" the girl managed, tiredly.

 _"_ _I have something_ fun _for you to do."_

Fun? Oh no. Whenever the AI mentioned words like that, something _had_ to be wrong.

"Just… five more minutes." She twisted in her bed.

 _"_ _I'll have you know, I am not falling for that. Get out of bed before I destroy your room again."_ The AI responded, still sounding excited despite the mild threat she just carried out.

An annoyed huff escaped her lips, before getting up. It was certainly easier to get up while wearing those boots, since they automatically flipped you upright.

She went into the bathroom, and changed into a different jumpsuit. After the scan, she eventually got to terms with the fact that the AI pretty much knew her body better than she did, so she didn't really care about the AI spying on her anymore.

She stepped out of her room, and stared into the nearest camera.

"What are you going to force me to do now?"

 _"_ _Just get in the elevator, and I'll show you."_

For some reason, this reminded her of a loving parent trying to get her kid excited about healthy snacks. She just ignored it, and walked further along the catwalk, and into the elevator.

To her genuine surprise, she wasn't taken to the Central AI Chamber, like usual. When the transparent doors opened, the test subject found herself in, well, the entrance of a test chamber.

 _"_ _In case you are wondering; no. I won't be joining you today. On the bright side, I've got something_ new _for you to test. Think of it as a… surprise. Good luck!"_

Okay, surprises never went well, either. Just _what_ should she expect? She didn't want her dead, right? Not anymore, that is. And what about that new device?

Well, answers are awaiting behind that door, she figured, and carefully walked through. No turrets, no lasers, no deadly goo. No signs of danger. _Yet._ In the middle of the room, a device.

It looked a like a giant CPU cooler with a handle strapped onto it, roughly the size of the portal gun. She could see it was still a prototype; none of the usual white plating and other finishing touches.

She picked it off the pedestal. It was heavy. _Really,_ heavy. It was like holding a big chunk of metal, which, honestly, wasn't far from the truth.

 _"_ _You are now in possession of the Aperture Science Hand-Held Matter Manipulator Device."_

She looked up at a camera, confused. "What does it do?"

 _"_ _Unlike traditional Aperture-provided handhelds, the Matter Manipulator Device requires external coordinate input."_

Panels at the back of the chamber moved aside, revealing the rest of the chamber. There was a button encased in a tiny glass chamber, and a cube to go along with it on the other side.

 _"_ _Point your Matter Manipulator Device at the Super-Colliding Super Button."_

She did as she was asked, still wearing a confused expression on her face. What was she up to?

When she did point her newly acquired 'Matter Manipulator' gun in the general direction of the button, it started to vibrate a little. The test subject was surprised by this, and took a step back.

 _"_ _The action the device you're holding just emitted indicates the direction of the programmed coordinates of destination. Now, point your Matter Manipulator Device at the Weighted Storage Cube."_

Still not knowing what was supposed to happen, she did as she was asked.

 _"_ _Please trigger the device."_

She pulled the small trigger on the top of the Matter Manipulator gun. As the AI expected, the device expelled an orange blob out the front, and practically swallowed the cube, making it disappear. The same cube then re-appeared right above the button, where the device buzzed before.

The button got activated, and the door activated.

What she didn't expect, though, was the immense amount of recoil the device produced.

The human got shot backwards, straight to the other side of the chamber. Her body twisted backwards in the air, before the boots turned her upright again, resulting in a sort of involuntary backflip.

She landed smoothly on the ground, thanks to the boots, and promptly collapsed in shock. There she lay, panting, on the pristine white floor.

 _"_ _What's going on? What did you do?"_

The girl groaned, getting back on her feet. "This… _thing,_ flung me backwards, I think that part should be obvious by now."

 _"_ _Apparently it generates a bit more feedback than expected."_

"D'you think?" The test subject responded, sarcastically.

 _"_ _Let's not dwell on the past any longer. It's time for the next_ test! _"_

"I am bursting with joy." The girl said, equally sarcastically, strolling towards the door.

But where she expected to be another elevator, taking her to another test chamber, there was nothing. There was just a gaping hole, where the elevator room should've been. If it wasn't for her fast reflexes, she would've dropped down.

 _"_ _What happens now, I think you'll enjoy."_

"What is it?"

 **Transference complete.**

The announcer's annoyingly cheery voice sounded over the intercom, in GLaDOS' place. Said AI then came walking in through an open panel in the test chamber, holding a similar device.

 _"_ _We get to send the whole of the facility, into space."_

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **And, with pride, I get to announce that, indeed, all of you were right. The whole of Aperture will get sent into space. Yay!**

 **Onto the next chapter!**


	47. Chapter 47, The Ascendance

**[A/N]**

 **Alright, now, I'm** ** _pretty_** **sure, there are going to be only two more chapters after this. Probably. Most likely.**

 **That means, only two more chapters until I reveal the (possible) sequel to this story. I'm excited already, I even made a cover for it. You'll see!**

 **Anyway, reviews are** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _"_ _We get to send the whole of the facility, into space."_

"Who's dramatic now?"

 _"_ _Don't mention it. Here's the deal; every test chamber you see, you shoot. Every time you do, it'll get transported into orbit. I'm entering the correct coordinates on your device now."_

Silence.

 _"_ _The device has been modified."_

"What?"

 _"_ _Protocol. At the time I modify a testing device, I must notify the test subject."_

"Ah. Alright, let's-"

 _"_ _Not yet. Here's where it gets interesting. I have installed a counter to keep track of how many test chambers you have successfully teleported into orbit. Mainly that thing there."_

The android pointed towards a little calculator-esque screen on the side of the Matter Manipulator Device.

"And what's the point of that? Do I have to recharge it at a certain number or something?"

 _"_ _No. It works on an internal generator to power itself, like the cores and turrets do."_

"…Alright. Then what is it for?"

 _"…_ _The competition."_

"Wait. We're going to battle?"

 _"_ _If you put it that way."_

"What happens to the loser?"

 _"_ _You'll get the honour of having the moron tied to your back wherever you go. Please note the usage of 'you', in that sentence."_

As if on cue, said moron appeared out of the entrance GLaDOS had made for herself.

"Hey! Oi oi! What- I've spent _hours_ searching for you guys! What have you been doing? Also, what are those… things? They're not, they're not portal guns, are they?"

 _"_ _This Matter Manipulator Device is programmed to send anything it hits into space. Unfortunately for you, I can beam you back there right now. The alternative is leaving us alone for a minute. Your choice?"_

The little core's optic shrunk to a pinprick.

"I think I'll just, erm, _go,_ then. Erm, see you 'round, I guess, and-"

He was interrupted by the android shooting him, essentially teleporting him _right_ back into space.

She chuckled mischievously to herself, before turning back to the test subject. The girl in question now wore an expression of annoyance.

 _"_ _What?"_

"Seriously? We can't just leave him there! Again." The last part, she said a bit more quietly.

 _"_ _Don't worry. We'll get to him once we're finished. In about an hour."_

"Open a transmission line to him. I want to talk to him for a second."

 _"_ _Really?"_

"Either you do it, or you do this alone. Your choice?" She said, mimicking the android's earlier query.

The android placed two of her fingers on her temple, decreasing the brightness of her optics ever so slightly. After a few seconds, a fuzzy transmission could be heard over the PA.

"…any sense! Why would she send me away like that? Well, again, that is, and-"

 _"_ _Hello, moron."_

The little core's voice box emulated a gulping sound. "Um.. Hallo! What, er, what did you do that for? Just now. Why did you-"

"Hey."

"Oh! You're there too! Erm… sorry. There, for whatever it is that, erm, upset you. Or-"

"There's nothing. It's just… she seems to get a kick out of banishing you, for some reason."

This earned her a playful elbow in the ribs.

 _"_ _Shut up!"_

"Sure, sure. We'll come and get you, okay? Oh, and, don't worry about test chambers suddenly appearing out of nowhere."

"What… test chamber-"

The transmission was cut.

 _"_ _No more holding us up. On the count of three."_

"Don't cheat this time!"

She just chuckled.

Then, not the AI's, but the announcers voice sounded over the intercom.

 **Task 'Competition' commencing, in three.**

The human narrowed her eyes.

 **Two.**

The android raised herself up, readying her jumping augments.

 **One!**

And the pair jumped out the door, simultaneously. The girl shot at a test chamber almost directly below her, causing her to be flung upwards, using the device's recoil to her advantage.

The android seemed to have forgotten this, however, and got flung backwards, back into the chamber.

"Good luck there!" The test subject shouted.

 _"_ _Oh, you watch me."_ The android boasted back, and jumped straight back out of the door.

Let the games. _Begin._

* * *

After a good few hours of shooting test chambers, using a lift to get to another area, and repeating the cycle all over again, the pair found themselves in the Central AI Chamber.

"So… what now?" The test subject said, still panting.

 _"_ _For now, you're done. I still need to set up these devices in the manufacturing wing, so we have access to it up in orbit."_

The android started to make her way into the elevator.

"Wait!" The human called, now done panting.

 _"_ _What is it?"_

"Can you set your gun to where you are standing now?"

 _"_ _Yes, why?"_

"Just do it."

Some buzzing came from the device the android was still holding.

 _"_ _Done. But just why would you want to-"_

The test subject snagged the android's Matter Manipulator Device of her, held her breath, and shot _herself_ with her own.

She suddenly found herself in space, as expected. The little blue-glowing core was only a few feet from her, and she started to make a swimming movement towards him, still holding her breath.

Said core wiggled and shook as if saying something, but nothing could be heard. Well, she _was_ in an oxygen-less vacuum, so what did she expect? She took the core in a sort of awkward hug, as she had both her hands occupied with the Matter Manipulator guns.

She twisted her left hand, in which she held GLaDOS' device, and shot herself again. It was a weird sensation, teleportation, even more so when there was no outside hull to protect you.

Meanwhile, back in Aperture, the android was panicking.

The test subject didn't have a death wish, did she? After all this? She didn't seem very unhappy in the last few months, despite being in the place that she was held hostage in for the last few centuries.

Just _why_ did the test subject do that? And why did she grab her own Matter Manipulat- Oh. The android understood. And, again, as if on que, the test subject appeared, now with an overly excited core in her arms.

"…thought I was done for! And then, out of nowhere, you appeared again, and- Oh. Hello?"

 _"_ _Thank you for accepting the fact that all of us would like for you to stop talking. Now let's continue working."_


	48. Chapter 48, Humanoid

It was many, many days later. It took weeks, months to get to the point where they were now.

It wasn't simple. Creating androids never had been. Normal androids weren't hard, either. They were designed to do one thing, and one thing only. Test. Explore. Surveillance.

Recreating something organic, emulated within lines upon lines of code, now _that,_ was where it got hard. Every sensation, every color, every sound, every reaction, every touch, every single one of the tiniest twitches.

Creating a computer? Simple. Creating one emulating every single little thing an organic body, perfected by millennia of evolution, within a computer? Not so simple.

Even with the advantages of quantum computing, nothing in the world could be as hard and far-fetched as _this._ A completely illogical set of variables, stabilized by the software of the personality, recreated on a system designed on a fully logic-driven base, and to make an ultimate system like that, compact, and lasting forever.

It really wasn't an easy task.

Eventually, the hard-working AI handed them out, every single android body perfectly tailored to one's desires, every single one of them… ideal.

And after the Cooperative Testing bots discovered a whole wing full of test subjects, she set out to make android forms for them, as well.

But all of that seemed easy, compared to the challenge facing them today. After months of straight, uninterrupted thinking, designing, testing, and remodelling, she had created something of which the outcome still remained an anomaly.

The same technology that created her, defined her, mutated the little girl named Caroline into the half-hearted sarcastic monster she was now past again. Only now, generated with the idea of a one-hundred percent chance of success in mind.

Anything less than success wouldn't suffice, she would _not_ lose the one person who made her realise that her life like she attempted to live it could not go on, the one that set her into motion, woke her up from her distorted, faulty perception of a cruel reality.

Chell, the one person that could change the omnipotent, beat the odds and survive an ever-lasting limbo of tests, now going for a change herself. Every light in the facility dimmed down, in honour of one of the greatest sacrifice humanity has ever faced;

Humanity itself.

The last human, the one who changed it all, the one who could control the uncontrollable, now finally being freed from the locking cage known as the human body.

And she stepped forward. Into the machine that would change _herself_ forever, the machine that would end humanity in favour of a new race.

The Humanoid.

Tears rolling down the cheeks of every single being, construct or not, in the room, awaiting to witness the change.

 **Transference initiated.**

The whole planet went silent. Without the birds chirping, without the humans talking, and now, if only for a moment, the ever-lasting hum of the facility known as Aperture Science, went silent, too.

 **Transference…**

The pale, yellow-eyed humanoid, currently behind the controls, praying to whatever god there was, that in all experiments and tests carried out in the history of everything, that this one, if _only_ this one, would succeed.

 **…** **Succeeded.**

And the new android opened her eyes.


	49. Chapter 49, Boxes in the Sky

In the next months after that, the android, and the ex-human alike, worked to set up a self-sufficient base, up in space. They worked together for days on end, adding onto their future home with every one of them.

They spent weeks teleporting themselves back and forth, one minute they'd be in space, the other they'd be underneath the surface.

Every time they'd tried to kill each other, ever bit of hatred they once shared, seemingly forgotten, as they worked together in harmony. The metal queen and the stubborn test subject, side-by-side, as equals, instead of enemies.

Every month, every week, every day, every hour, every minute that passed by, filled with a combination of harmony, and cold-hard progress. The ultimate combination of the two, carried out like it was meant to be.

And if anyone would be there to look up, from the beautiful, blue planet down below, they'd see them. The boxes in the sky, lined with an array of lights, shining always, in the dark, night sky.

And the field. The field filled with golden wheat, the perfect disguise for the facility that once housed the ground underneath it. Now, just an empty hull. Ripped out of the ground, in favour for a new homeland. Above the land.

Miles above the once generously filled blue sphere known as the Earth, there were people, living inside the boxes in the sky. Sometimes inside them, sometimes wandering around them.

The same as centuries past, intelligent, curious, and just a _dash_ of insanity. Wandering around their new homeland, exploring the vast, seemingly endless vacuum of space.

Rockets, satellites, cores, turrets… people.

The same, yet so different. The same design, different parts. Every single one of them, specifically generated to last, an eternity. The same figures, running, jumping, researching, yet one key difference; the light inside, created, never to fade again.

The animal minds, contained, yet free. Enhanced by the advancements of _science,_ calculating, mapping, doing everything mankind has never been able to reach before.

To be upgraded, instead of being healed, to be rendering, instead of imagining. Same carriage, more horsepower.

The creatures, living in the boxes, couldn't simply be defined as humans, or androids, or even animals, for that matter.

The entities habiting the skies weren't just people.

They were,

Humanoid.

* * *

 **[A/N]**

 **I know, I know. Ending the story with an Author's Note, I'm trash. The best way to cut off an awesome moment. Pretty long one, too.**

 **The thing is; as I said before, this FanFic is ending, but the story isn't. Not yet. I will be starting a new Fic, acting as a sequel to this one. It will tell the tale of the lives of the Humanoid race, up in space.**

 **And it will carry the following name! Drumroll please! No? No drumroll? Well, these are written words, anyway.**

 ** _Boxes in the Sky._**

 **And, since this is the last chapter, I'd like to make a shout out to some people;**

 ** _SinfulWaffles56;_** **Thank you for sticking around! You've been supportive since the very start, and even for the sequel of the story, and I'd like to thank you, for that.  
Also, the review you left me in chapter 32… I never anticipated for someone to have a reaction quite that… ****_intense._** **Thank you for proving me wrong there, then! Awesome, mate.**

 ** _Ryuuken K;_** **I'm not sure if you'll even be reading this. I hope you are though. Even though it sounds like the most cliché thing I could manage to get away with on this site, you left the first review. Again, cliché, but the moment I read that review, I realised that at least** ** _someone_** **out there was enjoying my crude first story, and it motivated me to write more.  
Without you, I might not even made it past the first chapter!**

 ** _orca3553;_** **You too, have stuck around for the story, and not only that, left reviews along the way. And I know this might seem like glorified enhancing of the fact that I needed something to fill the last Author's Note up with, which it's not, by the way, but I'm genuinely thankful for having people motivating me to write more.  
You also did ****_really_** **make me think about the theory that Chell might just legally be the owner of Aperture. Well, since the legal papers are now destroyed (Thank you moron! (Not a moron!)), we'll probably never know.**

 ** _That-Kind-Anon;_** **Thank** ** _you_** **for giving me feedback on things like phasing, and how I update in chunks. It** ** _really_** **does give me a sense of pride that people actually like what I do, down to how I do it. Thank you!**

 **.**

 **Okay, now that we got that lethal dose of** ** _cliché_** **out of the way;**

 **Reviews are (Still)** ** _greatly_** **appreciated, and ONTO THE NEXT STORY!**


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